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COMPILED UNDfcR THE DIRECTION OF 

STERLING GALT 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

431 Eleventh Street N. W. 
M C M 1 1 



THE LIBRARY *F 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies RelCEFveb 

FEB. 14 190: 

CWVKKJHT ENTRY 

COPY &/ 



• Gr"5 



Copyright, 1902, by 
The Neale Publishing Company 



"It is easy to fall into the habit of re- 
garding Lent as primarily an opportunity for 
retirement and contemplation. It is really 
a call to action. It is a time of prepara- 
tion for service. It is a time to acquire a 
wider outlook upon life, in order that its 
demands and the debts due the great broth- 
erhood of men may be fitly discharged, it 
is a time for renewing the will, strengthen- 
ing the purpose, and informing the mind, so 
that each individual Christian and each 
Christian Church may the better oppose the 
forces that hinder the coming of the King- 
dom of God.' 1 



< 



preface 

Those who seek food for Lenten thought 
{and who is there who does not need it ? ) 
will find in the pages of this little volume 
manna from many holy men. 

—Sterling Galt. 



Contents 



LENT: ITS PURPOSE 13 

The Most Rev. T. M. Clarke, D.D., I/C.D., 
Presiding Bishop, Bishop of Rhode Island. 

LENT AS A DUTY, AS A PRIVILEGE 17 

The Rt. Rev. H. B. Whipple, D.D., 1,1,. D., 
Late Bishop of Minnesota. 

KEEPING LENT ALMOST A DIVINE 

COMMAND 23 

The Rt. Rev. D. S. Tuttle, D.D., 
Bishop of Missouri. 

THE END OF LENT 27 

The Rt. Rev. W. C. Doane, D.D., I,I,.D., 
Bishop of Albany. 

REPENTANCE 30 

The Rt. Rev. John Scarborough, D. D., 
Bishop of New Jersey. 

LENT IS OVER 33 

The Rt. Rev. Geo. D. Gillespie, D.D., 
Bishop of Western Michigan. 



CONTENTS 



LENT AN OPPORTUNITY 36 

The Rt. Rev. T. A. Jaggar, D.D., 
Bishop of Southern Ohio. 

PREPARATION FOR LENT 46 

The Rt. Rev. W. K. McLaren, D.D., D.C.L., 
Bishop of Chicago. 

THE PICTURE GALLERY OF LENT . 49 

The Rt. Rev. Geo. F. Seymour, D .D. , U,.D. , 

Bishop of Springfield. 

HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT ? . . . 60 

The Rt. Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, D.D., 
Bishop of Pittsburg. 

THE CALL OF LENT TO SAY "NO". 65 

The Rt. Rev. H. C. Potter, D.D., LL.D., 

Bishop of New York. 

THE FREEDOM OF LENT 92 

The Rt. Rev. George Worthington, D.D., 
Bishop of Nebraska. 

THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF LENT . 96 

The Rt. Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, D.D., LLD., 
Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. 

LENT A TIME TO GAIN GRACE ... 98 

The Rt. Rev. J. S. Johnston, D.D., 
Bishop of Western Texas. 

THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF LENT . . 101 
The Rt. Rev. Leighton Coleman, D.D., LIv.D., 

Bishop of Delaware. 



CONTENTS 



SPIRITUAL RECUPERATION 104 

The Rt. Rev. William A. Leonard, D.D., 
Bishop of Ohio. 

LENT AND LIFE 107 

The Rt. Rev. William F. Nichols, D.D., 
Bishop of California. 

LENT AS A TIME OF DISCIPLINE . . 112 

The Rt. Rev. Cleland Kinloch Nelson, D.D., 

Bishop of Georgia. 

LENT AND THE GRACE OF HUMILITY 1 18 
The Rt. Rev. Ellison Capers, D.D., 
Bishop of South Carolina. 

LENT NOT NEGATIVE, BUT POSITIVE 125 
The Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Gailor, D.D., 
Bishop of Tennessee. 

REPENTANCE 131 

The Rt. Rev. A. C. A. Hall, D.D., 
Bishop of Vermont. 

THE TIME FOR ACTION 140 

The Rt. Rev. Frank R. Millspaugh, D.D., 
Bishop of Kansas. 

WHAT IS THE USE OF LENT? ... 142 
(for the children) 

The Rt. Rev. Lewis W. Burton, D.D., 
Bishop of Lexington. 



CONTENTS 



LENT A SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY . 146 
The Rt. Rev. Henry Y. Satterlee, D.D., 
Bishop of Washington. 

THE PURPOSE OF LENT 155 

The Rt. Rev. Chauncey B. Brewster, D.D., 
Bishop of Connecticut. 

LENT A TIME FOR SELF-CONSE- 
CRATION 160 

The Rt. Rev. Junius M. Horner, D.D., 
Bishop of Ash evil le. 

LENT IS A SPIRITUAL NECESSITY . 164 
The Rt. Rev. Wm. Hall Moreland, D.D., 
Bishop of Sacramento. 

DAILY LENTEN SERVICES AND 
HOME READINGS OF THE SCRIP- 
TURES , 167 

The Rt. Rev. Samuel Cook Edsall, D.D., 
Bishop of Minnesota. 

LENT A SEASON FOR PRAYER 

AGAINST SIN 173 

The Rt. Rev. James B. Funsten, 
Bishop of Boise. 

THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT .... 176 
The Rt. Rev. Joseph M. Francis, D.D., 
Bishop of Indiana. 



Xent: Zhc Ibol^ Season* 

« « « 

LENT : ITS PURPOSE. 

The Most Rev. T. M. CLARKE, D.D., LL.D., 
Presiding Bishop, Bishop of Rhode Island. 

The purpose of Lent is to bring us 
into closer contact with the Saviour. 

Surrounded as we all are by worldly 
influence, and carried along by the 
turmoil and vanities of life, it is very 
important that there should be some 
special intervals when we can be alone 
with God and reconsecrate ourselves to 
His service. Jesus Himself set us the 



14 LENT: ITS PURPOSE 

example of retiring at certain times from 
the world for prayer and meditation. 

At such a season as this we feel that 
we want a God who is human as well 
as divine — one who is not only all- 
powerful and all-good and all-merciful, 
but who has undergone the same kind 
of trials to which we have been sub- 
jected, and suffered as we do. 

No taint of sin could ever infect His 
holy and immaculate soul ; and yet, 
in some mysterious way which we can 
not comprehend, Jesus enters into all 
our trials and sympathizes with all our 
weaknesses, and it is an infinite com- 
fort to know that His sympathy is not 
dependent upon our worthiness. 

One tear of His is sufficient to wash 
away the stain of any sin, and that 
tear will fall upon our souls whenever 



BISHOP CLARKE 15 

we offer to Him the sacrifice of a 
broken and contrite spirit. No sin 
can put us beyond the reach of that 
mercy which is infinite. 

How can I know when my prayers 
are answered? Every true prayer is 
accompanied with a blessing. The 
special thing we ask for may not be 
granted and very likely it is well that 
it should not be, but some other good 
thing will come in its place. 

We must be willing to leave it with 
God to answer our prayers, and in His 
own time and in His own appointed 
way. He knows what we need much 
better than we do. 

Perhaps that cross which you have so 
long and so anxiously asked God to lift 
from you, may be in itself a channel of 
mercy which you can not afford to lose. 



16 LENT: ITS PURPOSE 

Some things may always be asked for 
without qualification, such as pardon, 
renewal, submission, trust and faith, 
but in this case, if we do not receive 
all at once just what we pray God to 
give us, we must be content to wait. 

If relief does not come as soon as we 
had hoped, it may be because God sees 
we need a longer and a sharper disci- 
pline in order to bring us close to 
Him. 

No one, however, need be discour- 
aged so long as he has the disposition 
to go to God with his troubles. 

May God give us grace so to improve 
the Holy Season of Lent, that at its 
close we may find our hold upon the 
world weakened and our faith in 
Christ, our Saviour, strengthened. 



BISHOP WHIPPLE 17 



LENT AS A DUTY, 'AS A PRIV- 
ILEGE. 

The Rt. Rev. H. B. WHIPPLE, D.D.,LL.D., 
Late Bishop of Minnesota. 

Therk are two ways in which to 
think of Lent — one as a duty, the 
other as a privilege. Duty is a hard 
word to use when speaking of anything 
which is to draw us nearer to the 
Saviour. It is far better to believe 
that the Church, as a tender mother, 
is saying to us, " Come, turn aside and 
rest awhile," for it is in Lent that the 
old promise is fulfilled, "I will allure 
them into the wilderness that there I 
may speak comfortably unto them." 



18 LENT AS A DUTY 

We are living in times when the 
drift of men's minds seems to be away 
from the Saviour. The world is ex- 
acting. Its cares, its pleasures, are 
all around us. It gives little time for 
meditation. It asks no holiness of 
heart, while heaven, which asks so 
much, seems far away, and the one 
is forgotten in love for the other. 

The season of Lent gives time for 
meditation, for reading of God's word, 
for prayer, and for deeds of charity and 
love, and should be welcomed by every 
Christian heart as one of the dearest 
resting places of life. That which 
makes it dearer is that the Church is 
leading us along the footsteps of our 
Saviour until, standing at the foot of the 
cross, we read the infinite testimony 
of the infinite love of God who " so 



BISHOP WHIPPLE 19 

loved the world that He gave His only- 
begotten Son that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish but have 
everlasting life. " It is only by the cross 
that we realize the joy of Easter in the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has 
brought life and immortality to light. 

The Church has wisely left her 
children freedom in deciding their 
individual obligations in the keeping 
of lyent. She does not tell us what 
food we may or may not take, how 
many hours shall be spent in prayer 
and the reading of God's word, or how 
often we shall attend divine service. 
But she does tell us that the blessed 
season has come in which we may 
draw nearer to God and by the Holy 
Spirit make our lives truer and purer. 

The prophet Isaiah asks, " Is it such 



20 LENT AS A DUTY 

a fast as I have chosen ? A day for a 
man to afflict his sonl ? Is it to bow 
down his head as a bulrush and to 
spread sackcloth and ashes under him? 
Wilt thou call this a fast and an accept- 
able day to the Lord ? Is not this the 
fast that I have chosen ? To loose the 
bands of wickedness * * * to deal thy 
bread to the hungry ? ' ' 

The object of Lent is to cure faults 
and put away sins, to grow more 
Christ-like and loving, and in this 
Christ-love shed anew in our hearts by 
the Holy Ghost, to recognize as never 
before our brotherhood as children of 
one God and Father. Self-examination 
is necessary that we may know our- 
selves. The record of daily life is 
written on our hearts, and this is the 
book of God out of which we shall be 



BISHOP WHIPPLE 



judged. Nothing can be more helpful 
in the Lenten season than the careful 
reading of God's word. In it is the 
history of men and women like our- 
selves — saved or lost as we shall be 
saved or lost, and who have found 
grace and help as we shall find them. 
One of the duties of Lent is attendance 
upon the Church's services, made 
precious by the promise of the Saviour, 
4 ' Where two or three are gathered in 
my name, there will I be in their midst 
to bless." 

I will not dwell upon the necessity 
of ordering our tables simply, of giving 
up worldly amusements, of abstaining 
from anything which could take our 
thoughts away from the privileges of 
this holy season. All this is a means 
to an end, and that end is a more 



22 LENT AS A DUTY 

Christ-like life. Nothing will add so 
much to the joy of Lent as, by personal 
service, to make other lives purer and 
happier. 

I can not mark out for other Chris- 
tians a hard and fast rule for Lent, and 
say to them, u Do this and you shall 
be blessed !" But I do say that if, 
when our mother, the Church, calls us 
to keep this holy season, we remember 
that it is that we may go nearer and 
nearer to the Saviour, it will be to us 
full of blessings, and like the disciples 
who walked with Him to Emmaus, we 
can say, "How did our hearts burn 
within us as we walked with Him and 
talked with Him by the way ! n A 
true Lent will help us to go forth in 
the gladness of Easter, living sons and 
daughters of our risen Master. 



BISHOP TUTTLE 23 



KEEPING LENT ALMOST A DI- 
VINE COMMAND. 

The Rt. Rev. D. S. TUTTLE, D.D., 
Bishop of Missouri, 

In the Old Testament " The 
Preacher " tells us there is u a time 
to weep and a time to laugh." The 
Lord Jehovah upon Mount Sinai ap- 
pointed six days for labor and one for 
rest. Divine regulation and human 
need concur in providing change and 
variety for the bent of man's activities 
and in sanctioning different times to 
be set apart for differing duties. 



24 A DIVINE COMMAND 

The observance of Lent, therefore, 
even if not explicitly enjoined in 
Holy Scripture, lies along the lines of 
a divine command and a wholesome 
practice. The Church in providing 
for it is right and dutiful and wise, 
and if earnest Christian folk had not 
drifted away from her historical 
anchorage and her wholesome prac- 
tical guidance, they would have felt 
no need for fixing a January week of 
prayer and times of revival. The 
four serious weeks of Advent and the six 
sober weeks of Lent, alternating with 
the joys of Christmas and of Easter, 
year by year, would have sufficed. 

The habit by the Church of setting 
apart Lent to be kept, and the habit 
by individuals of keeping Lent, are 
right and dutiful and wise. Nor is 



BISHOP TUTTLE 25 

there any call for the Church to be 
ashamed or disdainful if society and 
fashion help her in the matter. If 
balls and parties and dinings-out are 
stopped in Lent one need not despise 
such fashionable abstinence, asking 
indignantly if the Kingdom of God be 
meat and drink and dress and feet. 
To take off one's hat to a lady is an 
injunction of society and fashion. 
Even if it be a hollow form, the act 
helps us all around to be gentlemen ; 
and if it be an outward and visible 
sign of a real inward reverence and 
devotion to womanhood, then the help 
is blessedly multiplied. So, if fashion, 
paying homage to Godliness, lets up its 
demands during the six weeks of Lent, 
even if it do so in hollow formality, it 
gives time to men and women to think 



26 A DIVINE COMMAND 

of higher things and distant things 
and coming things, and it in no way 
prevents individuals from getting a 
firmer grip on their better selves in rever- 
ence to God and gratitude to Christ and 
beneficence to their fellow men. 

All hail, then, the keeping of Lent, 
year by year, by the Church, by 
individuals, by fashionable society ! 

Time is given to think. That is 
worth a good deal in this busy, push- 
ing world. Little self-denials will be 
wholesome, if nothing more than 
pinching ourselves to see if we be 
really awake and not dreaming our 
lives away. And greater self-denials 
may, with prayer and faith and God's 
grace, avail somewhat to God's glory 
and men's good and the peace of our 
own souls. 



BISHOP DOANE 27 



THE END OF LENT. 

The RT. Rev. W. C. DOANK, DD., LIv.D., 
Bishop of Albany. 

IvENT is like many another thing in 
life, a great opportunity with attaching 
risks and responsibilities. The keep- 
ing of it, consequently, is attended 
with serious dangers, the chief of 
which are, perhaps, the mistaking of 
means for ends and the misunderstand- 
ing and misuse of means. In her de- 
scription of the characteristic of days 
of fasting, the Church requires in the 
Prayer Book i l such a measure of ab- 
stinence as is more specially suited to 
extraordinary acts and exercises of de- 
votion." This is an example. Means 



38 THE END OF LENT 

for ends ; fasting in order to acts and 
exercises of devotion. Bnt it is not an 
exhaustive example, because the exer- 
cises of devotion, to which fasting is a 
help, are themselves only means. The 
end, and the only end, is a holier life, 
with a better mastery of evil and a 
more true consecration to service. 

So, also, are we tempted to mis- 
understand and misuse means. The 
extraordinary theory of ecclesiastical 
menu cards, set forth by authority, 
prescribing a diet of fish or eggs or 
butter without meat, is a caricature of 
fasting, because fasting demands, if it 
have in it any power of self-denial, 
diminution of quantity quite as much as 
the change in quality of food ; and still 
more, the giving up of luxuries and of 
the indulgence of personal appetites. 



BISHOP DOANE 29 

And the acts and exercises of devo- 
tion, what do they mean ? Two serv- 
ices on Sunday, when the habit has 
been to attend one? Attendance at 
daily service, to be dropped on Easter 
Monday morning ? Of course, this is 
well, but surely it ought to breed the 
habit of more frequent worship, and 
not bring about a relapse into infre- 
quency when Lent is over. And as 
surely the aim should be to make the 
devotion deeper and more intense in 
the worship, and to bring about that 
devotion, which is the giving up of 
life more and more to God's will and 
God's work. The end of L,ent is to 
form habits and make character, and 
it is misspent if it leaves no mark 
upon our lives. 



30 REPENTANCE 



REPENTANCE. 

The Rt. Rev. JOHN SCARBOROUGH, D. D., 
Bishop of New Jersey. 

u The voice of one crying in the 
wilderness ' ' is still ringing in the ears 
of men — calling them to repentance. 
And when that clarion voice of St. 
John Baptist was silenced the Master 
Himself took np the cry, " Repent 
ye ! " and the Church, in the forty 
days of Eent, repeats this message to 
the sons of men. The Spring Fast is 
a time for heart-searching, turning 



BISHOP SCARBOROUGH 31 

away from sin, and crying to God for 
pardon. Mere abstinence from food, 
or a change of diet for the time, is not 
the only duty or the main thing to 
aim at. The chief benefits are spir- 
itual — " to starve sin." As the Poet 
Herrick truly says, " The observance 
of a set time for self-examinings and 
self-denials has been of untold benefit 
both in the Church and the world. " 
In this day, when men are hurried 
and driven by the exactions of busi- 
ness or pleasure it is well now and 
then to cry a halt and see whither 
the steps are tending and what the 
issue of living is likely to be. Lent 
comes as the opportunity, and if well 
spent it will prove a lasting blessing 
to both soul and body. George Her- 
bert calls it "the dear Feast of L,ent," 



32 REPENTANCE 

a holy privilege and not a cross. The 
daily service of the Church and the 
more frequent communions are an un- 
speakable boon to many of God's chil- 
dren. Lent meets a great spiritual need 
in the lives of those who are hungering 
and thirsting after righteousness. Its 
better observance is something to be 
devoutly thankful for. And 4 c the Holy 
Church throughout all the world n 
would be stronger and braver for her 
work, if u all who profess and call 
themselves Christians " were to unite 
as one, in crying mightily to God for 
the pardon of sin and the gift of re- 
newed spiritual life during the forty 
days of Lent. 



BISHOP GILLESPIE 33 



LENT IS OVER. 

The Rt. Rev. GEO. D. GILLESPIE, D.D., 
Bishop of Western Michigan. 

No ; Lent is not over. By far the 
more important part of Lent remains — 
its permanent influence on the mind 
and heart of the member of the Church. 
If though you have been quite at- 
tentive to the services and were en- 
gaged in devotional exercises in private 
and practicing some self-denial ; now 
that Easter is past, you have drifted 
back into the old way of easy Christian 



34 LENT IS OVER 

living, neither cold nor hot. Lent is 
over as to doing anything permanent 
for your soul's welfare ; you have had 
the blessing within your reach and you 
have the guilt of letting it slip. 

But you do not want Lent to be 
over ; it has been to you a time of re- 
freshing ; you have enjoyed the serv- 
ices. They have brought to you 
more of the joy and peace in believing 
than you have been wont to know. 
You want to keep on in this ' ( newness 
of life. " Then, look over the past, 
recognize what have been your defi- 
ciencies, — make your prayer, " Search 
me, O God, and know my heart ; try 
me and know my thoughts ; and see 
if there be any way of wickedness in 
me, and lead me in the way everlast- 
ing. ' ' And your prayers granted, your 



BISHOP GILLESPIE 35 

mind enlightened, apply yourself to 
your conversion from " secret and pre- 
sumptuous sins." Determine to give 
more time and thought to holy 
habits — Church attendance with the 
Holy Communion, prayers, Bible study, 
good reading, seeking the welfare of 
others' souls. Then this Lent will 
live with you, it will be the blessed 
Lent. 



36 LENT— AN OPPORTUNITY 



LENT— AN OPPORTUNITY. 

The Rt. Rev. T. A. JAGGAR, D. D., 
Bishop of Southern Ohio. 

1 i Thomas, one of the twelve called 
Didymus, was not with them when 
Jesus came." It was the first Lord's 
Day evening. Our Lord had appeared 
to the disciples in the upper room. 
But Thomas was not there. He missed 
all the first joy of the Saviour's re- 
turn — he missed the first breathing of 
the Holy Spirit and the benediction of 
peace after the storm. He evidently 
had no sympathy with the enthusiasm 
of Peter and John. Doubtless, he 



BISHOP JAGGAR 37 

thought that they had been carried 
away by the fancies of the women. 
He seems to have been of that skepti- 
cal nature which questions its own 
impulses and has little patience with 
that which seems like gush. He was 
the pessimist among the disciples — 
honest, but not hopeful or easily con- 
vinced. The other disciples were too 
sanguine. What was the use of get- 
ting together and perhaps inviting 
persecution. The Lord was dead. 
He had no faith in visions and so " he 
was not there when Jesus came. ' ' 

It was a lost opportunity. He after- 
wards witnessed a good confession, 
but it is, nevertheless, true that person- 
ally he suffered the clouding of his 
spirit when the other disciples were 
glad, became for a time a hindrance 



38 LENT— AN OPPORTUNITY 

when he should have been a help, and 
deserved the reproof which made him 
conspicuous in all history as the 
doubter. 

There are times when Jesus comes. 
It is true that he abideth in us, if we 
abide in Him, for has He not said, "If 
a man love me, he will keep my word 
and my Father will love him and we 
will come unto him and make our 
abode with him." But keeping His 
word means faithfulness in all our re- 
lations. The three thousand souls 
which were added to the Church on 
the day of Pentecost continued stead- 
fastly in something more than individ- 
ual faith and prayer. u They contin- 
ued steadfastly in the Apostle's teach- 
ing and fellowship, in the breaking of 
bread and the prayers " (Revised ver- 



BISHOP JAGGAR 39 

sion). Just as in our natural lives we 
are developed not in isolation, but 
through social influences in the family 
and other relations, so in our spiritual 
being we find means of grace in 
the communion of the Church and its 
appointments. The Lord's Supper is 
asocial Feast which we can not neglect 
without loss to our souls. The mys- 
tery of His spiritual presence is there 
with its pardoning love, benediction 
of peace and breathing of spiritual 
strength. We can not be keeping His 
word if we neglect His charge, " Do 
this in remembrance of me." Back 
of the Lord's Day services and its 
sacrament of love is the promise, "If 
two of you shall agree on earth as 
touching anything that they shall ask 
it shall be done for them of my Father 



40 LENT— AN OPPORTUNITY 

which is in Heaven, for where two or 
three are gathered together in mv name 
there am I in the midst of them." 
This promise is our warrant for all 
those special seasons of common 
Prayer which have been and observed 
in all ages of the Church. Every de- 
nomination of Christians has proved 
the worth of prayer-meetings in some 
form and special times of withdrawal 
from material Thought into the still 
hour of communion with God. Our 
season of Lent, sanctioned by long 
usage, is our season for pausing in the 
whirl of earthly interests and search- 
ing our hearts in the light of God's 
love, shining in the face of Jesus 
Christ, — cleanse them from all doubt 
and impurity and refresh ourselves by 
new realizations of the pardon, pity, 



BISHOP JAGGAR 41 

help and hope which are ours in the 
faith of Jesus. By every promise that 
He has given, by all the experience of 
saints in the past, and of our own per- 
sonal faith in the present we may ex- 
pect Lent faithfully improved to be a 
time when " Jesus shall come." 

Lent as an opportunity for spiritual 
blessing is of incalculable worth. Who 
can exaggerate the worth of all our 
religious seasons as opportunities for 
getting breath towards God ! We are 
smothered under mephitic fumes. I 
talked the other day with a grimy 
stoker on one of our ocean steamers 
who had seized the opportunity when 
off duty to put his head above decks 
and breathe the pure air. He went 
down to the hot furnace-room revived 
and invigorated. We are all like that. 



42 LENT— AN OPPORTUNITY 

We need to get into the upper atmos- 
phere as much and as often as we can. 
It is true that ventilation is supplied 
for the stoker in his work. He may- 
find breath even under decks and so 
may a true Christian find breath from 
God even in the midst of his earthly 
toils and cares. But there is an open- 
air above decks, in the hour of prayer 
at home, the Lord's Day services, the 
Holy Communion, and our Lenten 
opportunities which is capable of re- 
viving and purifying even to filling us 
with all " the fullness of God, n Life 
would be very different for many of us if 
we had not had and improved them. We 
may not have seemed to appreciate them 
or to be absorbing anything, but imper- 
ceptibly we have been influenced and 
spiritual health infused and preserved. 



BISHOP JAGGAR 43 

Think now of the possible loss to 
our souls if there are times when 
Jesus comes and we are not there. If 
Thomas had been detained by unavoid- 
able circumstances or more exacting 
duties, of course that meeting in the 
upper room was not his opportunity. 
There is no evidence to show that he 
might not have been there with the 
other Apostles had he chosen to be. 
We infer from the record that nothing 
but his own natural habit of incre- 
dulity kept him aloof. 

We are not of course responsible for 
absence from religious services which 
we will to enjoy but are hindered by 
other and peremptory circumstances 
from attending. They are simply 
not our opportunities. Wilfully to 
neglect them when we have them is 



44 LENT— AN OPPORTUNITY 

the neglect of privilege and may be 
loss to our souls. There are some who 
argue that they can pray and read 
their Bibles in secret and even be dis- 
ciples without an open profession of 
religion. It is possible I suppose that 
a man or woman may never go to 
church or make a profession of reli- 
gion or kneel at the Lord's Table and 
yet be a sort of abnormal Christian. 
But the stimulus of communion with 
our fellow-Christians and the grace 
which flows through the Common 
Prayer are missed. The true wor- 
shipper goes from the Lord's House 
and Table with fresh interest to his 
closet and his Bible. He is in danger 
of neglecting both if he never puts 
himself where Christ has promised to 
be present with His disciples. Nico- 



BISHOP JAGGAR 45 

demus came to Jesus by night, but he 
was clearly shown that he could not 
be a disciple in secret. 

The Lenten season is our opportu- 
nity which may, rightly used and im- 
proved, be to us a "time when Jesus 
comes. " If we let the opportunity 
pass by, failing, through doubt or in- 
dolence, to meet with the disciples, 
we lose words of comfort and influence 
whose worth to character and life can 
not be estimated. The breathing of 
the Holy Spirit was there and the 
Benediction of Peace, but " Thomas 
was not with them when Jesus came." 



46 PREPARATION FOR LENT 



PREPARATION FOR LENT. 

The Rt. Rev. W. E. McLAREN, D.D., D.C.L., 
Bishop of Chicago. 

We are accustomed to regard a 
well-kept Lent as a preparation for 
the faithful performance of Christian 
duty during the rest of the year. But 
the reverse of this proposition is quite 
as true. Forty-eight weeks of hearty 
Christian living ought to constitute as 
much to a good Lent as six weeks of 
Lent to a good year. 

It is true that in this life we shall 
not cease to need the peculiar stimulus 



bishop McLaren 47 

of Lent, its self- scrutiny, its ab- 
stinences, its penitence, its resolves. 
It is true, also, that in the life of the 
spirit we must be always beginning 
again ; but it is not the apostolic idea 
of progress that our fresh starts should 
always go back to the same old point 
of departure. The soul that grows 
" puts away childish things," and 
every succeeding renewal begins at a 
point more advanced than the last. 

It were a pitiful token of torpidity 
should any soul find itself on Ash 
Wednesday just where it was one year 
before, with no more strength of grace, 
no more love for God, no deeper com- 
punction, no clearer vision of eternal 
realities. Surely each Lent ought to 
be better than its predecessor, and it 
will be, if there has been adequate 



48 PREPARATION FOR LENT 

preparation. The period of prepara- 
tion ought to cover forty-eight weeks, 
and the results will correspond with 
the earnestness we put into our 
preparation. 

The possibilities of spiritual devel- 
opment during such a Lent are very 
great, — much greater than he can 
conceive who has been accustomed to 
get out of this holy season only a 
temporary uplifting, followed by re- 
lapse to the former level, — and what 
Christian has any right to stop short 
of his possibilities ? 



BISHOP SEYMOUR 49 



THE PICTURE GALLERY OF 
LENT. 

TheRT. Rkv. GEO. F. SEYMOUR, D.D.,LL.D., 
Bishop of Springfield. 

The Gospels of the season of Lent 
present a series of pictures of our Lord 
in His conquest of temptation and 
cure of sin, which are thrillingly in- 
teresting and full of comfort for every 
one who will look at them. They 
show what He has done and can do 
for all who will turn to Him in faith 
for help. Let us stand, as the pictures 



50 PICTURE GALLERY OF LENT 

pass before our eyes, and see whether 
we are left out in the comprehensive 
grasp of His infinite love. 

First. We have the Champion of the 
human race alone with Satan in the 
wilderness, as Eve was at the begin- 
ning in the Garden of Eden. Her 
fate we know. She fell and comprom- 
ised the human race. Look at her ; 
she is gazing at the forbidden tree, 
and three things she sees : first, that 
it is good for food, the lust of the flesh ; 
second, that it is pleasant to the eyes, 
the lust of the eyes ; and third, that it 
is a tree to be desired to make one 
wise, the pride of life. The three 
streams of temptation pouring in upon 
her at once are too much for her. 
She yields and eats, and gives also 
unto her husband with her, and he 



BISHOP SEYMOUR 51 

did eat. The fall. This is the pic- 
ture in the dim distance. 

In the foreground is our Lord alone 
with Satan, not in the beautiful gar- 
den, but in the wilderness. Satan puts 
forth all his archangel's strength, and 
brings to bear the triple power of temp- 
tation upon his apparently helpless 
victim. His appetite is sharpened for 
victory, because thus far he has not 
found access to this one human heart. 
Again the lust of the flesh, food for a 
starving man, appears, u Command 
that these stones be made bread." 
Again the lust of the eyes, untold wealth 
and glory for absolute poverty and the 
seclusion of the desert is employed. 
The Devil showed Him all the king- 
doms of the world and the glory of 
them. Again the pride of life, angelic 



52 PICTURE GALLERY OF LENT 

help and heaven's admiration to one 
bereft of human society and a compan- 
ion of the wild beasts is used. Cast 
thyself down and behold, Angels will 
come and succor Thee, All Satan's 
resources fail. The Champion of the 
human race is master of the field. The 
Devil leaveth Him, and behold angels 
came and ministered unto Him. 

Second. We inquire to what purpose 
is this victory over Satan ? Does it 
concern any one beside our Lord Him- 
self ? The defeat in Eden ruined the 
race. Will the triumph in the wilder- 
ness restore, or put it within our power 
to recover what was lost in Eden? The 
pictures, as the Sundays in Lent pass 
them before our eyes, answer these 
anxious inquiries. The second pic- 
ture shows us our Lord as the central 



BISHOP SEYMOUR 53 

figure, and around Him His disciples, 
and kneeling in supplication a woman. 
Who is she? What is her plea, and 
where is the scene laid ? The woman 
is a descendant of the accursed race of 
Canaan, whom God drove out by rea- 
son of their iniquity. She is a mother 
and is interceding for her daughter, 
who is grievously tormented with a 
devil. The locality is on the seacoast 
of Tyre and Sidon. The dear Lord 
shares with her His victory and her 
daughter is made whole. The picture 
then shows us our Lord in our coasts, 
the Gentile world, giving His bless- 
ings to Gentiles; the worst of sinners, 
Canaanites ; women, a matron and a 
maiden, old and young. 

Third. The third picture passes and 
we see Jerusalem and our Lord and a 



54 PICTURE GALLERY OF LENT 

goodly company, and a dumb man 
possessed of a devil. No words can 
plead, but the heart speaks, and the 
eyes, and he is healed. Ah ! the good 
gifts go, we see, to the Jew as well as the 
Gentile, and to the man as well as the 
woman, and prayer is heard whether 
one prays for himself or for another, 
with the lips, or without a spoken 
word, from the heart. Now all the 
human race, Gentile and Jew, woman 
and man, old and young, are brought 
by representation into our Lord's pres- 
ence, and he blesses them all alike 
with the benefits of His victory over 
Satan. 

Fourth. The ground was cursed as a 
punishment upon man, and evil ap- 
pears in thorns and thistles, and in 
barren and reluctant soil. Will the 



BISHOP SEYMOUR 55 

good Lord heal nature and stay the 
Devil's power, as he scourges man with 
mildew and sterility of soil and fam- 
ine? See the fourth picture. Our 
Lord is the central figure and the 
scene is lovely beyond expression. 
The crystal lake of Galilee and the 
banks rising gently from the waters, 
covered with the fresh green grass, 
and men, and women and children, 
grouping in companies of hundreds 
and fifties, to the number of more 
than five thousand, and seated on the 
ground. What is the Master doing? He 
is traversing the fields of Nature and 
useful art in feeding that vast multi- 
tude. He is making the kneaded and 
baked bread, and the cooked fish in- 
crease and grow in quantity until all 
the eyes, that wait upon him, receive 



56 PICTURE GALLERY OF LENT 

their meat in due season, and are sat- 
isfied. Jesus blesses Nature's processes 
and Nature's products, and man's skill 
and toil. He reverses the curse of the 
ground. 

Fifth. But bad as is Nature's curse 
for man, man's curse upon himself in 
his pride and rebellion against God, and 
unbelief is far worse. Will the dear 
Lord deal with this the worst develop- 
ment of evil and master it ? The fifth 
picture comes. The scene is the temple 
in Jerusalem, the seat of the national 
religion. The central figure is still 
our Lord, and around Him, pressing 
upon Him, are the infidels of that day. 
They have cornered Him, as they feel 
sure, since they have driven Him to 
affirm that Abraham, who had been 
dead full eighteen hundred years, had 



BISHOP SEYMOUR 57 

seen His day and was glad. Ah ! they 
triumphantly cry, ' ( Thou art not yet 
fifty years old, and hast thou seen 
Abraham ! ' ' They appeal to the 
evidence of our senses, since any one 
could see that the Master was not even 
a middle-aged man, much less an old 
man, and hence as a mere man he 
could not have seen Abraham. They 
suppose that their triumph is com- 
plete. But Jesus responds, " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham 
was, / am. ' ' He does not say ' c before 
Abraham was, / was. ' ' That is I am 
older than Abraham, but He claims 
to be Jehovah, the eternal I am. This 
is the panacea for infidelity, the cure 
for misgiving and doubt. We do not 
mean that it drives it out of sight ; it 
did not do this in the present instance. 



58 PICTURE GALLERY OF LENT 

It silenced it and drove it from reas- 
oning to persecution. " Then took 
they up stones to cast at him. ' ' The 
final resort of infidelity is always 
the stones, persecution. So our L,ord 
triumphs in His incarnation over the 
evil which fills mere human thought 
and dominates the spirit of the world. 
This revelation of Himself as the very 
and eternal God, prepares us to under- 
stand and interpret the awful pictures, 
which will fill the canvas on Palm 
Sunday and the days which follow after 
to Easter Even. Ah ! the sufferer does 
not suffer because He must, since He 
is God as well as man, but because He 
wishes to suffer and die for our sakes. 
He is not the victim of a mob. " He 
has power to lay down His life and 
He has power to take it up again." 



BISHOP SEYMOUR 59 

His death is the cure for sin, and sin 
is the fruit of yielding to temptation. 
Look these pictures over again. How 
wonderful they are ! Study them one 
by one, and then study them in rela- 
tion to each other, and then sweep- 
ing, as it were, the eye over them in 
a single glance, see the unity of the 
whole and the harmony of the parts, 
and as you bend beneath the cross, 
cry, Jesu, mercy, and bless God for the 
Incarnation. This is one study in the 
picture gallery of Lent. 



6o HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT 



HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT ? 

The Rt. Rev. 

CORTLANDT WHITEHEAD, D.D., 
Bishop of Pittsburg. 

Think as men may concerning 
Lent, it nevertheless is a fact to be 
reckoned with. You are a Church- 
man. You claim to be a Prayer Book 
Churchman. You also claim to be a 
Bible student, or at least a believer in 
the Bible. You certainly claim to be 
a disciple of Christ — that means a 
learner, one who acknowledges Christ 
as Master, who accepts His teaching, 



BISHOP WHITEHEAD 61 

and, theoretically at least, follows 
His example. Nothing that Christ 
did or favored could possibly be wrong. 
Everything He endorsed or practiced 
must certainly be right. Hence when 
Lent comes, Scriptural, Christlike, 
and enjoined by the Prayer Book, it 
is, as we said, a fact to be reckoned 
with. And like many other such 
facts, it is like the Judgment itself, in 
its measure and degree ; it separates, 
so to speak, between the sheep and 
the goats. As in the case of the Bible, 
the Sacraments and the Ministry, so 
also Lent is in itself inevitably either 
a u savor of life unto life, or a savor of 
death unto death. n A magnet thrust 
into a heap of dust is a means whereby 
the steel particles in that pile may 
prove themselves steel. This institu- 



62 HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT 

tion of Lent thrust into our congrega- 
tion, by a law which can not be denied 
or evaded, enables those who are in 
deed and not only in word Prayer 
Book Churchmen, to prove their own 
estimate of themselves measurably cor- 
rect. 

Our Mother, the Church, has no 
other design except, as the represen- 
tative of her L,ord, to cultivate our 
truest Christian character, and bring 
it on unto perfection. And she knows 
no better way than to follow the foot- 
steps of His most holy life. And if 
He found it meet and right, and en- 
joined it upon His disciples, to watch 
and fast and pray, there is no reason 
why the disciple should be above his 
Master. { 4 The Scriptures bid us fast ; 
the Church says Now"; and fasting 



BISHOP WHITEHEAD 63 

means going without things, whether 
amusements, food, sleep, or selfish 
ease, so as to have more money for 
alms, and more time for serious read- 
ing and religious meditation, earnest 
prayer, and the practice of true religion, 
which is to visit the fatherless and 
widows, the sick and the needy, in 
their affliction. 

Can there be anything better for the 
development of true Christian char- 
acter? Is there any reason for an 
earnest Christian man or woman to 
refuse to keep Lent ; or to think slight- 
ingly of it? To wait on the Lord is 
to renew one's strength. To seek Him 
is to find Him. To give up things 
for Christ's sake, and for the sake of 
men, is to enter (oh, how slightly!) 
into the fellowship of His sufferings, 



64 HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT 

and has most sure promise of blessing. 
Strong are those words of the Master 
Christ, u Except a man deny himself, 
and take up his cross and follow after 

Me, HE CAN NOT BE MY DISCIPLE." 



BISHOP POTTER 65 



THE CALL OF LENT, 
TO SAY "NO." 

The Rt. Rev. H. C. POTTER, D.D., LL.D., 
Bishop of New York. 

The world is late to recognize its 
true heroes, and sometimes suffers 
them to die unrecognized. Something 
of the old shortsightedness of Paganism 
still lingers among us, and makes us 
heartiest admirers, not of the heroism 
of resistance, but of the heroism of 
action. A dazzling deed goes for more 
than a daily denial, and we shout ap- 



66 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

plause, not in his ears who has resisted 
an allurement, but in his who has 
achieved a success. 

This may be natural enough, but it 
is none the less superficial, and, in the 
long run, in its results, demoralizing. 
There are times, therefore, when we 
need to reconstruct our ideas of moral 
heroism — to dig down through the 
saw-dust of the popular arena, and get 
our feet upon the firm substratum of 
abiding truth. And something of this 
sort is needed in these times, for these 
are times, as very few of us will care 
to deny, when the world is greatly in 
love with visible and tangible achieve- 
ment. One man goes to and fro 
through the streets, and in and out of 
the world's traffic and rivalry and 
pleasure silent, unasserting and simply 



BISHOP POTTER 67 

faithful. ' ' Well, what of it ? " some- 
body asks. " Doubtless he is a very 
worthy person. But come and look 
out of the window with me, at some- 
body who is worth looking at. 
Yonder portly figure belongs to a man 
who has made his own way to the very 
top of the ladder. He is not, indeed, 
a person of very nice scruples. His 
personal habits are hardly those which 
a father would hold up as models to a 
son just setting out in life. His history 
is, indeed, simply the story of a strong 
and coarse nature, which has grasped 
at all it could get, and over-reached 
and over-ridden the weak and less 
cunning whenever it dared ; but, after 
all, how much the man has to show 
for his career !" What, now, is this 
but the purest paganism of judgment — 



68 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

missing, entirely, in its superficial en- 
thusiasm ;for merely effective exertion, 
the true heroism, the intrinsic grandeur 
of any really noble life ? Follow that 
other unassuming figure whose owner 
has never dazzled the world by a bold 
stroke in politics or finance — who has 
never outwitted his constituents or just 
grazed the edge of downright fraud in 
dealing with his creditors. He has 
been content to refuse to let any most 
promising bargain for one instant 
blind his eyes. He has simply resisted 
any lust, whether for place or pleasure, 
which would drag him into any un- 
clean intimacy with sin. He has 
merely been steadfast enough to wave 
back every, whatsoever, lure that 
would make him false to duty. Is it 
nothing, do you say? Come with me, 



BISHOP POTTER 69 

then, into the presence of the greatest 
of all Beings, at the moment when 
He is called to face the crucial trial of 
His whole life. Read in that story, 
which is the record of the three tempta- 
tions of the Master, what, with Christ, 
was the supreme emergency of His 
earthly ministry. Strip that story of 
its accidents, and what is its substance 
but this : That Christ three times says 
"No!" iVccording to the world's 
standard, the triumph of Jesus ought 
to have been in doing successfully 
what the devil entices him to do. 
What a fine victory over stubborn 
nature in turning the stones that lay 
about Him into Bread ! What eclat 
in flinging oneself headlong from the 
giddy battlements of the temple, to 
alight amid the admiring crowd below, 



70 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

unharmed ! What a cheap price to 
pay for that wide empire which He 
sought over the hearts and lives of 
men, to kneel, for one instant only, at 
the feet of Satan ! And yet the real 
victory is won when, in answer to each 
overture of the adversary, Christ 
simply speaks his calm but unequivo- 
cal refusal. Do you think it is only 
by chance that that stern history 
stands at the threshold of the Master's 
public ministry? Read over, then, 
the records of that ministry with this 
single characteristic of it in your mind, 
and see how, over and over again, it 
re-appears through all the subsequent 
history, until at length Christ hangs 
upon the cross, and there, with the 
last effort of His failing strength, re- 
fuses the offered draught by which 



BISHOP POTTER 71 

His persecutors aimed, with tardy pity, 
to drown His dying agonies in the 
stupor of unconsciousness — grander, 
then, in the divine heroism of His re- 
fusal than when He startled men with 
any mightiest miracle ! Are any of 
us in love with a real, vital heroism? 
Let us learn, then, from Him, most of 
all, in what, veritably, it consists, and 
how, most worthily, you and I may 
illustrate it ! 

But to do that successfully we need, 
first of all, to ask, and to answer the 
question, What faculty is that upon 
which such heroism as I have described 
makes its demand, and which needs, 
therefore, to be braced and disciplined 
to respond to that demand ? In other 
words, if a human being is to illustrate 
real vigor and nobility of character by 



72 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

sometimes saying "No," out of what, 
in him, must such vigor and nobility 
come? 

(a) Plainly, as you will perceive 
with a moment's reflection, not out of 
that side of him which is merely 
physical. There is a certain kind of 
courage, a familiar manifestation of 
firmness which distinguishes those 
w r hose nervous system is in fine, robust, 
working order, whose digestion is good, 
and who sleep soundly every night. 
One meets with such persons on ship- 
board, sometimes, and more feminine 
natures look upon them with a kind of 
envious admiration. " What firmness 
and fearlessness," they say, "in dan- 
ger. What would I not give if I could 
exchange my weakness for such cour- 



BISHOP POTTER 73 

age and strength and fortitude ! M 
But only put the strong man and the 
weak woman over against some strong 
and sharp temptation ! Come with a 
bribe to that poor creature who shivers 
with dread every time the ship lurches 
in the sea, and see which of the twain 
is the stronger then ! You see a vig- 
orous, robust man, down in the kennel, 
wallowing in the mire of his tyrannical 
appetites, and you ask: " What is 
manly strength good for if it can not 
keep such an one out of the gutter ? 
What an abuse of strength that ought 
to have been used to resist temptation 
— not degraded by surrender to it ! " 
Now the mistake and confusion here 
consists in looking for relief from the 
wrong faculty. Nothing is more easily 
susceptible of proof than that the 



74 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

physical heroes of the world have not 
been its moral heroes. It is not 
strength of muscle nor grace of limb 
that wins for one victories in that do- 
main when one's heroism consists in 
simply saying, "No." A disordered 
physical system may lay one open 
to certain forms of physical temptation, 
and on the other hand a healthful, 
well-balanced physical organization 
may be free from certain vicious ten- 
dencies, and, so, disinclined to certain 
vices. But in either case it has not 
been any mere physical effort, or the 
want of it, which saved or wrecked 
one. When you are steering a boat, 
or driving a vicious or unbroken horse, 
you want a clear and open eye, a firm 
grasp, and strong and steady nerves, 
but when you are steering your own 



BISHOP POTTER 75 

restless and wayward nature, or striv- 
ing to put the rein on your own head- 
long ambitions, your petty vanities, 
your tyrannical and yet ever-recurring 
appetites, you want something more 
than any or all of these. 

(b) And that something is not, as 
many erroneously fancy, a higher cul- 
ture. It would be, if our sins, our 
weaknesses, our feeble concessions to 
the things that beckon us downward, 
were the results of our ignorance. But 
a man or woman may know all about 
sin and not be, for all his knowledge, 
one whit the stronger. Go to the 
drunkard, just as he is lifting to his 
lips the glass that will turn a man into 
a beast. You ask him: u Do you 
know the consequences of this act of 



76 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

yours ? " " Yes. " u Have you ever 

experienced those consequences ?" 
"•Yes." u Do you mean to say that 
you know what it is to have the light 
of reason in you put out by the devilish 
mischief that there is in yonder cup — 
to lose all sense of shame or dignity or 
decency, to fall down out of the clear, 
firm self-consciousness of a serene man- 
hood into the drivelling maunderings 
of a fool — to brutalize yourself until 
the very herds of swine are less despic- 
able than are you ? ' ' " Yes, ' ' the 
answer has been, over and over again, 
« ' I know all that ! " " Then, verily, ' ' 
I think you would be constrained to 
confess to such an one, 4 ' your sin is 
not attributable to your ignorance. If 
you are ever to be other and better 
than you are, it is not mere education 



BISHOP POTTER 77 

that you want." And yet, is there 
anything extravagant or extraordinary 
in such a conversation as I have re- 
hearsed? Has not every one of us 
some leaf of sad experience with just 
such fallen ones to which it answers, 
almost word for word? You see a 
woman, cursed with that madness of 
her sex, the vice of evil-speaking. As 
she goes to and fro among her fellow- 
beings she drops this venom with 
skilfullest art, just when it can hurt 
most and sting the longest — drops it 
with such unerring cruelty, in such un- 
scrupulous profusion, with such utter 
recklessness, that you wonder at last, 
how, to you and to others who are 
striving with all your might to love 
her, she can make herself so unlovely 
and unloveable ! We think she can 



78 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

not know either what she is doing, or 
the effect of it, and that if she could 
be made to see how every scandalous 
utterance, every calumny of implica- 
tion recoils upon herself, she would 
deny her tongue such wanton and 
wicked indulgence. Alas ! there are 
hours when she knows all that as well 
as you can tell her — times when she 
feels it in the pained silence or surprise 
of others — times, too, when she weeps 
over this virulent habit and the sore 
bondage in which it has entrapped her. 
No ! it is not knowledge that such an 
one wants — not a heightened discrim- 
ination, nor an acuter intellect, but 
simply and supremely 

(c) A braver and a firmer will. And 
here we touch the core of the whole 



BISHOP POTTER 7g 

matter. Believe me, if any one among 
us is ever to act rightly in those fre- 
quent and critical moments in every 
life when duty and honor and con- 
science and the Holy Spirit of God 
equally cry out to the hesitating soul, 
"Thou shall say 'No!'" it must be 
because we have somehow gotten a 
sterner fibre and a steadier fixedness 
to our wills. How many noble and 
engaging characters have you and I 
known whose perpetual misfortune and 
final ruin it was, that this side of them 
was so utterly and hopelessly weak. 
Aye, and among them have been in- 
tellectual giants, masters of their call- 
ing and of their kind, whether in the 
pulpit or in the counting-room or at 
the bar — men who could thunder 
against wrong in tones that made other 



80 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

men tremble as they heard them, and 
yet men so impotent in all their 
powers of resistance that, no sooner did 
some base solicitation appeal to them, 
than they went down before it as grass 
before the mower. Like men who 
"ride to ruin with their eyes wide 
open," such an one may never be so 
thoroughly master of himself intel- 
lectually, his mind never so clear and 
bright and vigorous as when his will, 
swerving at a lure like a frightened 
horse, nears the precipice and topples 
over ! 

What one so imperilled — nay, what 
all of us, since all of us so imperilled, 
need, therefore, is to restore the tone 
and upbuild the strength of that faculty 
which Jonathan Edwards with such 
refreshing clearness and simplicity de- 



BISHOP POTTER 81 

fines as the " faculty or power or prin- 
ciple of the mind by which it is 
capable of choosing. " 

But what is there that can restore 
this tone or deteriorated quality of the 
will ? I answer : 

i st. Discipline, Many persons, and 
especially young persons, are betrayed 
often by the pestilent sophism that to 
say "No" is somehow ungenerous 
and discourteous. There is something 
benevolent to the casual eye in that 
yielding disposition which can not 
pain another, as it declares, with a 
refusal, and which wins a kind of tran- 
sient regard from others because of 
what is deemed to be its good nature. 
L,et us understand right here, if we 
find ourselves yielding to such weak- 
ness, that it is not another's feelings 



82 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY » NO " 

that we are so much considering as 
our own. It is not merely the pain 
which saying "No" gives them that 
we are thinking of, as the pain which 
saying it gives us. And what is such 
a consideration when we try it in the 
crucible of a candid logic, but sheer 
selfishness, and not benevolence at all? 
The young mother can not deny her 
child its wildest demands, because, as 
she tells you, she can not bear to wound 
it with the pain of a refusal. But 
would she hesitate to refuse the child 
if there were no pain to her own feel- 
ings involved in that refusal ; and is 
it generosity or unselfishness to sacri- 
fice the child's real good to her own 
feelings? Ah, what a rare school for 
the training of the will into a firmer 
habit and a braver readiness for denial 



BISHOP POTTER 83 

exists in every home among us ! You 
that are parents, read over again the 
story of our first mother's fall and see 
there how every complex misery that 
has come into the world inlthe horrible 
train of sin entered it when that inno- 
cent wife in Eden weakly refused to 
say "No/" Look again on all the 
various ramifications of that life that 
make up home and the family, and 
remember, whether you are a child 
there or a parent, encountering the 
temptations of youth or those of ma- 
turity, that God has set you there pre- 
eminently to put the weak will in you 
under the yoke of an early and stead- 
fast discipline, and thus to learn how 
the truest grandeur of life consists not 
in yielding, but in refusing to yield. 
And as in the family, so out of it. 



84 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY "NO" 

Says Emerson, speaking of character 
in the merchant : u In his parlor I see 
very well that he has been hard at 
work this morning, with that knitted 
brow and that settled humor, which 
all his desire to be courteous can not 
shake off. I see plainly how many 
firm acts have been done ; how many 
valiant noes have this day been spoken, 
when others would have uttered ruin- 
ous yeas." Who that hears me does 
not know that it has been that fatal 
facility in saying "Yes" that has 
dragged more fair and prosperous bar- 
ques down to ruin than any financial 
storm that ever swept the seas of com- 
merce. Some concession, both weak 
and wicked (wicked because it in- 
volved not only our own ruin but the 
ruin of others), to plausible solicita- 



BISHOP POTTER 85 

tions to go upon a neighbor's paper, 
to divide risks in some gigantic specu- 
lation ; to launch out into habits of 
living that are neither suited to one's 
means or his education, all these are 
occasions when many a man of business 
has tasted the bitter fruits of a timid, 
ruinous reluctance to say "No!" — 
occasions, too, on the other hand, when 
the courage and firmness and prompt- 
ness and persistency with which one 
could say so, have been the four corner- 
stones of all a man's subsequent suc- 
cess ! 

And so on, through all our personal 
or social life. Oh ! how sorely do we 
need, in these over-compliant days, 
the type of character that refuses to 
comply ; men who, if only by their 
power of resistance, will let us know 



86 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

that we have encountered a new and 
positive quality. But, such a type of 
character can be developed only by 
daily and downright discipline. These 
wills of ours are as capable of increased 
and more vigorous fibre as are our 
arms or hands. What they need is, 
that, set over against the errors, the 
falsehoods, the evils that are in the 
world, we should discipline them in 
the divine art of refusal ; daily train 
them to utter their downright protest 
and frankly and firmly say u No ! M 
There has come to be, in certain quarters 
among us, no little scorn of the name 
Protestant, because, forsooth, it is 
urged that the attitude of a Protestant 
is merely an attitude of denial of cer- 
tain errors, and not an attitude of 
affirmation of certain truths. It is at 



BISHOP POTTER 87 

once a silly and shallow objection, for 
no man ever earnestly denied any 
error save because he believed in the 
deep truth which lay behind it, and of 
which it was the parody. But suppose 
it were not so — which is the braver 
and the manlier course, to drift with 
the stream of falsehood or superstition, 
droning out drowsy affirmations to 
lifeless, lying traditions, or to stand up 
firmly to deny their authority — to pro- 
test, aye, to protest against their ty- 
ranny, and, when they bid the soul 
" crook the pregnant hinges of its 
knees" before them, to say, openly 
and resolutely, " No ! No! I will not 
bow down before this dreary falsehood 
which you have dressed up in the 
vestments of custom or of religion?" 
Thank God ! just that was what did 



88 CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

those brave men who reformed Eng- 
land and our Mother Church, and if 
they were not ashamed of the name of 
Protestant, verily we need not be ! 

2d. But, not inappropriately may the 
memory of their courage and constancy 
remind us just here of that other and 
divine Factor in the perfecting of a 
heroic will, I mean the indwelling 
power of the Holy Spirit. 

"That is best blood which hath most iron in it, 
To edge with, resolve with," 

one has written. Ah ! what is it but 
this iron of a divine strength of which 
we each one of us supremely need per- 
petual infusion ! No mere self-disci- 
pline of our weak and wavering wills, 
sorely as so many of us need that dis- 
cipline, can make us strong enough to 



BISHOP POTTER 89 

say "No!" to any really seductive 
beckoning of the adversary, until that 
discipline has been supplemented and 
invigorated by a strength above our 
own. We must, verily, put our wills 
under martial law ; but at the same 
time we must seek for strength to en- 
force that law in our closets and upon 
our knees. And so, verily, we see our 
calling ! Do I speak to no one who is 
consciously under the dominion of a 
base habit, or a mean compliance? Is 
there no one of us who has known 
what it is weakly to cringe and say 
"Yes," either to his own appetites or 
ambitions, or to the false or dishonest 
plans of other men? Oh! then, my 
brother, be a man and speak the ' ' No ' ' 
your heart has long ago striven and yet 
hesitated to utter. Or, if you can not — 



go CALL OF LENT, TO SAY " NO " 

if your chains have grown so strong, 
your lips so stiff you can not frame a 
( i No, ' ' ask Christ, first, to set you free, 
and, while you ask Him, do your part 
to learn a freeman's firmness. Say 
"No," for a season at any rate, to 
some one or more of your trivial and, 
perhaps, hitherto very harmless indul- 
gences. No man ever knows what 
power his most insignificant habits 
have gained over him until he tests 
them by downright denial. Say 
"No!" then, for forty days, at least, 
to some exacting appetite, some dom- 
ineering custom of the world about 
you, some wonted harshness of speech 
or judgment that may seem so natural 
to you. Say " No " when the aggres- 
sive clamors of any secular engage- 
ments bid you neglect engagements 



BISHOP POTTER 91 

with your Maker. Say u No" when 
any summons comes between you and 
God's courts, or any other hours you 
owe to Him ! Say " No ! " when any 
lure or bribe entices you to speak an 
untrue word, or do an unclean deed. 
God shall see and own the heroism of 
your endeavor though men may not. 
He knows, already, what that word 
"No," if ever you shall speak it 
bravely for His sake, will cost you, 
and when at last the books are opened, 
and the great assize is set, His voice 
shall crown your steadfast service with 
His own divine approval. 



92 THE FREEDOM OF LENT 



THE FREEDOM OF LENT. 

The Rt. Rev. 

GEORGE WORTHINGTON, D, D., 
Bishop of Nebraska. 

There are doubtless those in the 
Church who regard the discipline of 
this penitential season as a necessity 
indeed, but still an interruption and 
a task ; scarcely disguising it to them- 
selves that they shall feel relieved 
when the forty days are over. This 
can not be a state of mind that is hon- 
oring to God. Neither can God be 
pleased with such a service as this. 
Christianity is essentially a filial rela- 



BISHOP WORTHINGTON 93 

tionship. A father desires the obedi- 
ence of his child, but he would have 
the service one of love and gratitude. 
The Church has prescribed certain 
duties and enjoined specific obliga- 
tions. It is clear that the benefit to be 
derived from a recognition of these, 
hinges upon the spirit in which they 
are done. 

To do the best things, to pray and 
fast, and engage in works of charity 
with a close, confined, shut-up heart 
can never be religion. To feel very 
free and yet to be very accurate and 
particular in action ; to be the more 
bound, because we are not bound, and 
make the greater liberty the motive of 
the severer discipline. This is the 
Christian faith. This is the Gospel. 

Lent is the season of Thanksgiving 



94 THE FREEDOM OF LENT 

for the penitent. If truly so, and the 
confession is sincere, there are no 
places in his mind which he is afraid 
to disclose. His penitence and con- 
fession has secured pardon, and it is 
the sense of pardon which is man's 
emancipation. 

To work out our salvation does not 
necessarily imply servitude. If the 
inspiration of all that the Church 
wisely requires of her children at this 
season is the love of God, there must 
be perfect freedom in their perform- 
ance. God is not a master imposing 
duties, rigidly exacting results, keen 
to see faults, pleased with pain, unsyin- 
pathizing with difficulties ; but a 
Father, a loving Father, tenderly con- 
siderate, always ready to respond to 
our cry for help, and when our wills 



BISHOP WORTHINGTON 95 

are submissive to the divine will, He 
works in us mightily, never forgetting, 
but always helping our infirmities. 

If in the solemn covenant of Holy 
Baptism, the precious blood is sealed 
to us, and our spiritual birth makes us 
the children of God : and He is ever 
the same loving Father, then to serve 
him faithfully in every requirement of 
the church which is the mystical body 
of His dear Son, must be perfect free- 
dom ; our adoring love for such a gra- 
cious Being makes it so. 

"Where the spirit of the Lord is, 
there is liberty. " 



g6 PRACTICAL VALUE OF LENT 



THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF 
LENT. 

The Rt. Rev. 

BTHELBBRT TALBOT, D.D., LL.D., 
Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. 

The sanction of many centuries of 
the Christian Church is a silent wit- 
ness to the practical value of the sea- 
son of Lent. The necessit)' of such 
an annual revival and quickening of 
the spiritual life is found in the very 
constitution of our nature. Under the 
Jewish dispensation God Himself com- 
manded the observance of a solemn 
fast, year by year. The teaching of 



BISHOP TALBOT 97 

Christ assumes that men will fast. 
Iyent provides a definite time to enable 
us to acquire that self-mastery so nec- 
essary to spiritual progress. By self- 
denial, not only in food, but in pleas- 
ures, innocent in themselves, the soul 
is chastened and time is secured for 
meditation upon things Eternal. There 
never was an age when L,ent, with its 
lessons of self-restraint and Holy dis- 
cipline, was more sadly needed than at 
present. 

To all who in the spirit of filial obe- 
dience and out of love to the Master, 
try to improve the opportunities this 
blessed season affords it will prove, as 
in the language of the saintly Herbert, 
the "Dear Feast of Lent. " 



g8 A TIME TO GAIN GRACE 



LENT, A TIME TO GAIN 
GRACE. 

The Rt. Rev. J. S. JOHNSTON, D. D,, 
Bishop of Western Texas. 

In all our observances of Lent we 
should bear ever in mind this truth : 
that it is not simply a season to seek 
forgiveness for past sin, and that 
too without any serious intention of 
amendment ; but it is more especially 
a time, by u a closer walk with God," 
to gain grace to enable us to attain 
to greater perfection. When one has 



BISHOP JOHNSTON 99 

really walked with God, and tasted 
and known how gracious the Lord is, 
he will not soon want to go back to 
u the weak and beggarly elements of 
the world. ' ' 

That is but a poor and pitiful view 
of religion, which looks upon it as 
merely a contrivance to get pardoned, 
and does not rather consider it a great 
workshop where character is ham- 
mered out on the anvil of experience, 
so that men, who were once made in 
the image of God, and have lost it, 
shall have the likeness restored, and 
be fitted to become, co-workers with 
Him here, and co-partners with Him 
in Eternity. The reason that trial so 
often comes to these " seekers after 
God ' ' is, that it is only originally 
in the white heat of the fiery furnace 

iL.pfC, 



ioo A TIME TO GAIN GRACE 

of affliction that souls can be welded 
indissolubly to God. This is princi- 
pally what the religion of Jesus Christ 
stands for. Let us not stop short of 
it, nor flinch under the means which 
He often uses to " accomplish his per- 
fect work ' ' in us. 



BISHOP COLEMAN 



THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF 
LENT. 

Thk Rt. Rev. 

LBIGHTON COLEMAN, D. D., LL. D., 
Bishop of Delaware. 

My practical bent of mind induces 
me to write briefly from that point 
of view. Not that I would do so to 
the exclusion of the spiritual or devo- 
tional side, but, rather, in addition 
to it. 

I often think that if parents prop- 
erly appreciated the influence of a 
well-kept Lent, in helping to form 
habits of self-denial, regularity, and 



102 PRACTICAL SIDE OF LENT 

conscientiousness, they would more 
generally, and with greater alacrity, 
co-operate with the Church in further- 
ing its observance. 

The lessons and motives by which 
these habits are recommended and en- 
forced are such as young minds can 
easily understand, and, with many of 
them, are calculated to arouse their 
enthusiasm and activities. 

And, not infrequently, through the 
children, an interest is awakened or 
revived among the older members of 
the family, which has lain dormant a 
long while, and appeared well nigh 
beyond hope. 

The rewards which may be offered, 
for example, for rising early and 
promptly ; getting to meals on time ; 
keeping one's person or clothes tidy ; 



BISHOP COLEMAN 103 

practicing music faithfully ; taking 
exercise regularly ; going without 
candies, desserts or other delicacies ; 
avoiding harsh words ; doing some sort 
of household work — all such rewards 
are so many aids, when judiciously 
explained, in the formation of habits 
that may be of incalculable value in 
their future and maturer lives. 

Therefore, it is that I would ear- 
nestly urge upon parents the duty 
and advantage of encouraging their 
children to heed the appeals made to 
them yearly to have them share in 
the practical benefits resulting from a 
well-spent Lent. 



104 SPIRITUAL RECUPERATION 



SPIRITUAL RECUPERATION. 

The RT. Rev. WILLIAM A. LEONARD, D.D., 
Bishop of Ohio, 

Lent is a season for spiritual recup- 
eration. Just as during the summer 
season, rest and refreshment come to 
jaded minds and bodies from nearer 
contact with Nature: so during Lent, 
as we draw away from the cares and 
pleasures and distractions of the world, 
the spirit may become reinvigorated 
by closer association with God, through 
prayer and fasting, by service, and 



BISHOP LEONARD 105 

alms-giving. Lent is a soul tonic. 
If it be well used, and perseveringly 
occupied with spiritual exercise, the 
whole fibre of the " inner man " must 
be strengthened and built up. Lent 
forbids idleness, or relaxation in reli- 
gious avocations. It would stimulate 
the disciple to more rigorous disci- 
pline and to renewal of heavenly 
labors. 

So that, a Lent well spent must 
develop the Christly stature of the 
disciple. Much prayer would aug- 
ment every force of the spirit ; much 
worship would of necessity find the 
Divine reflection on our daily lives ; 
much work among the poor would 
assuredly make us humbler and more 
grateful for our providences; much 
abnegation would beget a larger habit 



106 SPIRITUAL RECUPERATION 

of self-sacrifice ; and much sweet com- 
munion with our Lord would compel 
us to be like Him, and would keep us 
in the Easter path, that leads blessedly 
through this life unto the gates of 
Everlasting Life. 



BISHOP NICHOLS 107 



LENT AND LIFE. 

The RT. Rev. WILLIAM F. NICHOLS, D.D., 
Bishop of California. 

A book on Lent would have the 
largest sale of the year and the most 
happy result for the building fund of 
St. James' Mission, Greencastle, if the 
American people as a whole only felt 
that they needed Lent. If as a season 
it appealed to them as, for example, an 
outing season appeals to them, there 
would be downright eagerness to get 
and use expert ( i literature, ' ' as Bureaus 



108 LENT AND LIFE 

of Information call it, upon the sub- 
ject. From the nature of the case, 
however, we know that can not be. 
As the world is, it would be pure 
paradox to have a season of with- 
drawal from the world with all the 
world going after it. 

And yet ought not a little more 
pains be taken to have the human 
heart disclose its own instinct for 
Lent. A good many Christian peo- 
ple, and indeed a good many Church 
people, seem practically to look upon 
Lent as if it were a sort of pawn- 
brokers' cognomen after all, very 
handy for those who find themselves 
in the straits to use it, — over-pious, 
morbid, mulligrubs sort of people, — 
but meaning no more, really, to the 
sane and solvent character than the 



BISHOP NICHOLS 109 

three gilded balls they happen to no- 
tice in passing a sign on a side street. 
Is Lent really only the resort of a few 
specially hampered hearts, or is it a 
market place where all can go for sus- 
taining food? Is it not a season for 
staples without which there may be 
starvation of spirit ? 

The human spirit needs rest. It 
never needed it more, and it never had 
rest crowded out more than in this 
century of activities let loose. The 
worn spirit more often explains the 
tired body than 7)ice versa. And Lent 
is simply a profound and prescribed 
outing for that weariness of spirit. 

The human heart needs aim. Amid 
the chances and changes of this mortal 
life it has a real struggle for a fixed 
position, as the compass-needle quivers 



no LENT AND LIFE 

about the pole. Lent is a time to 
clarify the aim, to pray that our 
hearts may surely then be fixed when 
true joys are to be found. 

The human life needs discipline. It 
inevitably gets it. No mortal life prob- 
ably ever had its tear-ducts unused. 
But discipline uninterpreted is a curse 
of character. The Cross of Jesus is 
the only key to its interpretation. And 
Lent is the season of the Cross — the 
season for reading life's strange hiero- 
glyphics, the season for discerning 
the sweet reasonableness of discipline 
and law in all character — making it 
yield u the peaceable fruit of right- 
eousness unto them which are exer- 
cised thereby. " 

And if all who in their life wrest- 
lings are learning something of the 



BISHOP NICHOLS 



spirit's need of rest, of the heart's need 
of an aim and of the life's need 
of discerning discipline — if they all 
would try the effect of a well-kept 
Lent upon these needs, our churches 
would not begin to hold them, and 
Lent would become the very instinct 
instead of the go-by of the multitude. 



iia AS A TIME OF DISCIPLINE 



LENT AS A TIME OF DISCI- 
PLINE. 

The Rt. Rbv. 

CLELAND KINLOCH NELSON, D.D., 
Bishop of Georgia. 

The acts and employment of time 
which the Church inculcates in Lent 
are of Divine command, approved by 
reason and thoroughly tested by long 
use. 

To restore the functions of a worn 
and depleted spirit, Christians can 
select no better methods than those 
which the Church has stamped with 



BISHOP NELSON 113 

the seal of her Master's choice, nor 
better time than that which rests for 
its appropriateness upon our Blessed 
Lord's forty days' fast in the wil- 
derness. 

Like the contestants of the world, 
but with a nobler object, we now enter 
upon a time of training. We look 
forward, do we not, with earnest de- 
sire, to the enjoyment hereafter of a 
life of bliss in the presence of our 
Adorable Redeemer. Then a portion, 
not niggardly nor indifferently, of 
our time should be devoted to the cul- 
tivation of the mental and spiritual 
habit, the graces and accomplishments 
which shall fit us for citizenship of 
heaven and companionship of the 
saints in light. 

Sooner or later the education must 



H4 AS A TIME OF DISCIPLINE 

be had, the discipline undergone. As 
it is good for man to bear the yoke in 
his youth, so it is far better for us to 
yield our members to the lawful and 
reasonable restraints of this season than 
at some future time to be restricted 
and disciplined in a reformatory from 
which we can not escape. 

How can this supreme grace of 
charity ever be possessed without 
doing deference to many inborn dis- 
positions and developed tendencies ? 
That we may be able to suffer and 
yet be kind, to root out envy and jeal- 
ousy, to be modest and humble, free 
from conceit and love of self, seeking 
the good of others rather than of our- 
selves; that we may "'be true and just 
in all our dealings " ; that we may 
bear, believe, hope, endure will surely 



BISHOP NELSON 115 

never happen to us, nor result from 
any natural processes, nor against our 
wills. The world and its associations 
do not encourage these virtues, society 
does not foster them, friendship does 
not demand them ; human nature is 
not grooved so that they will pervade 
our lives as irrigating waters. 

Nothing less than attention, self- 
control, mortification of natural pro- 
pensities and subjection to a wiser 
leading than the unaided intellect, will 
ever bring us into conformity with the 
model of Divine Charity. There must 
be an inner conscious force to resist 
and rise superior to the proneness of a 
fallen nature. 

The shattered remnant of God's 
original creation can never of itself 
grow to any seemly proportions, or 



n6 AS A TIME OF DISCIPLINE 

rise to the stature of our Exemplar 
and Pattern. 

For the holy purpose of mendings 
modifying and improving the inner 
life, Lent is an opportunity. 

Like any other means of grace it is 
either a blessing or a curse according 
to the use we make of it ; — a blessing 
if we attune our lives to its prevailing 
tone, a curse if we neglect it or spend 
it hypocritically. 

It is no time for compromises with 
sin. Every delay of discipline makes 
future hardship greater. Each unful- 
filled resolution carried over renders 
us weaker. 

Until Christians cease to regard 
Lent as a formal observance, and its 
acts as a series of unsavory duties, it 
will ever prove stupid and profitless. 



BISHOP NELSON 117 

But if we can but realize our need 
of a thorough stirring up of heart and 
mind, and will view the Forty Days as 
a precious privilege, there remains 
the hope that the yearly Easter will by 
successive consecrations of our labors 
bring us nearer to a joyful participa- 
tion in the final Resurrection. 



n8 THE GRACE OF HUMILITY 



LENT, AND THE GRACE OF 
HUMILITY. 

The Rt. Rev. ELLISON CAPERS, D.D., 
Bishop of South Carolina. 

What grace, of all others, will help 
to make Lent holy and profitable? We 
venture to say, the grace of humility. 
Without it, all our doings will be 
nothing worth. We are all going up 
to the temple to pray, and to give 
alms, and to pay our vows unto our 
Lord. Let us recall the example of 
the two characters set before us as 
types ; types of the right, and the 



BISHOP CAPERS 119 

wrong spirit ; and remember, that 
they are set before us for the one pur- 
pose of teaching what is the right 
spirit. 

Two men went up into the Temple 
to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other 
a Publican. We understand what the 
spirit of the Pharisee was, and we 
understand the mind of the Publican. 
In the Christian Church these two 
men have ever stood for two distinct 
characters, and no two characters are 
better known than the characters of 
these two men. 

Good taste and good manners, not 
to speak of good religion, condemn 
the Pharisee, and praise the Publican. 
There is something cold and forbid- 
ding in the spirit of the one, while the 
spirit of the other attracts us. One is 



120 THE GRACE OF HUMILITY 

the spirit of arrogance ; the other the 
spirit of humility. One is offensive to 
man, and we should not wonder that 
it is an offense to God. Yet for all 
this, the spirit of the Pharisee easily 
dominates our hearts, and drives the 
nobler spirit from us. This is a most 
serious fact. However much we may 
applaud the Publican, still we must 
confess, that it is easier to be like 
the Pharisee. The Publican's grace, 
Humility, is not at the command of 
our wills. Over against the Publi- 
can's heart-felt sense of his imperfec- 
tions we set our self-esteem. Noth- 
ing is easier than to over-estimate 
the worth of our righteousness, or to 
under-estimate the moral beauty and 
strength of a genuine humility. The 
reason is obvious : the standard of 



BISHOP CAPERS 121 

conduct by which we are most easily 
influenced is always at hand; is asserted 
by the majority with whom we daily 
associate — it is the generally accepted 
standard of the world ; the worldly 
standard of life. The Christian's 
Standard is the pure law of God ; the 
character of Jesus Christ. Measured 
by this standard there can be no 
ground for self-laudation, and no war- 
rant for self-righteousness. Humility, 
before the pure law of God, is an abso- 
lute moral necessity, for without it 
there can be no true penitence. Chris- 
tian humility is the sincere confession 
of the actual state of our heart and 
life. It is the devout acknowledg- 
ment of the truth. Coming to God, 
the Publican came in truth and sin- 
cerity. Judging his life by the law of 



122 THE GRACE OF HUMILITY 

God, he confessed what he knew was 
truth respecting his life, and God jus- 
tified his sincerity. His prayer of 
humble access stood for a noble faith- 
fulness to the truth. The Pharisee 
knew that his prayer stood for his 
over-estimate of himself, and that the 
law of his life was not the law of God. 
A pure heart ; truth in the inward 
part of the soul ; lips that speak no 
guile ; a mind not lifted up unto 
vanity ; an undefiled conscience : all 
this was not in his mind. His prayer 
was no confession of truth, for it ig- 
nored the real state of his life, present- 
ing only what was praiseworthy, and 
taking no account of what God saw 
to be unclean, unworthy, and unholy. 
The Pharisee's prayer was a decep- 
tion ; a deception in the face of Him 



BISHOP CAPERS 123 

who knows the heart of man. What 
a contrast to the Publican's mind ! I 
venture the affirmation, that the great 
need of our Christian life, is the need 
of the grace of humility. Humility, 
which exalts the law of God, and the 
example of Jesus Christ, our Right- 
eousness ; humility, which has the 
courage to confess a fault with the 
purpose to correct it ; humility, which 
craves the smile of God before the 
face of man ; humility, which judges 
all conduct by the one only standard 
of human life — the will of God. Our 
IyOrd's purpose in the Parable is to 
teach us our need of the grace of 
humility. One of the prime objects 
of Lent is to help us on towards the 
attainment of this grace. The Church 
gives us abundant opportunities for 



124 THE GRACE OF HUMILITY 

self-examination, self-discipline, self- 
sacrifice. We must never forget, that 
the religion of the Crucified can never 
be the religion of the self-satisfied. 
Every Christian knows, that without 
the sense of his sins and his sinfulness 
he can have no just appreciation of his 
Master's Cross. No sane man can 
stand before the Cross of Christ, Our 
Lord, and admire or praise his own 
righteousness. It would shock the 
moral sense, and seem the veriest 
mockery. But every man who hum- 
bles himself before the Cross knows 
that there he feels, that his nature is 
exalted, and every fibre of his heart is 
enriched by the sense of God's eternal 
love, and Christ's redeeming Sacrifice. 



BISHOP GAILOR 125 



LENT: NOT NEGATIVE, BUT 
POSITIVE. 

The RT. Rev. THOMAS F. GAILOR, D. D., 
Bishop of Tennessee, 

The season of Lent, in one aspect 
of it, and perhaps the truest, repre- 
sents opportunity. It is not a mere 
rest from the business and activity of 
life ; but it is the wise provision for 
the increase of spiritual power. It is 
not sanitary, but sanatory. It is not 
negative, but positive ; and this fact is 
worth emphasizing. 

It is one thing to nurse and minister 
to an invalid, who has small chance of 



126 NOT NEGATIVE, BUT POSITIVE 

recovery, and it is quite another thing 
to transfer a person of good vitality, 
who has been depressed by unfavorable 
conditions, into an atmosphere and 
environment which will give the vital 
forces free play and stimulate and 
encourage the expansion and increase 
of life. 

We must insist upon the positive- 
ness of the divine life in us. The 
Christian spirit is a positive and ag- 
gressive force in the world. It is not 
on the defensive. It is not a mere 
shrinking from evil and abstinence 
from wrong-doing. It is the shedding 
of a new light into the world. It is a 
triumphant marching onward in the 
Name and faith of Christ. It is a con- 
fident, joyful challenge to the armies 
of unrighteousness. It expels bad 



BISHOP GAILOR 127 

passion by introducing true love. It 
conquers the disease of sin by increas- 
ing the amount and improving the 
quality of vigorous righteousness. It 
overcomes evil with good. 

In an environment absolutely free 
from unfavorable conditions, the spirit- 
ual nature, by itself, would soon and 
inevitably grow to complete supremacy, 
but it is now hindered and restrained 
in daily life by its ancient enemies, the 
world, the flesh, and the devil. It has 
to fight for every advance it makes, 
being sustained and strengthened only 
by prayer and sacraments. 

Now, Lent is the Church's opportun- 
ity, once a year, to reinforce the ordi- 
nary operation of the means of Grace 
by restricting, in some degree, the 
avenues through which the enemies 



128 NOT NEGATIVE, BUT POSITIVE 

reach the soul, and by increasing the 
facilities for spiritual development. 
Thus, the test of a well-spent Lent is 
not the satisfaction felt at having been 
severe in abstinence and punctilious 
in attendance upon religious services, 
but in the consciousness of deeper 
spiritual insight and greater spiritual 
power. For, by daily services, by 
frequent communions, by serious medi- 
tation and survey of self, by absti- 
nence from those things which, while 
not wrong in themselves, are the every- 
day occasions of temptation ; — there 
should be the accession of vital force 
and larger dominion of the soul. 

Those who object to the observance 
of Lent, on the ground that it seems to 
them to be a mere formal and perfunc- 
tory intermission of social pleasures, 



BISHOP GAILOR 129 

which, if wrong at all, ought to be 
eschewed always by all Christians, do 
not do justice to the positiveness of the 
Christian life. 

A soldier may be granted a few 
weeks' special drill and training, in 
seclusion from the enemy, in order to 
increase his efficiency in actual war- 
fare, but he would cease to be a sol- 
dier if he failed in the day of battle 
to meet his foes on the open field. It 
is right for Christians to retire now and 
then into the large, serene realm of 
devotion ; but they would be unworthy 
of their Leader if the spiritual power, 
so augmented, were not used in the 
practical experience and contact of the 
political, social, and industrial life of 
mankind. 

The failure of Churchmen to actual- 



130 NOT NEGATIVE, BUT POSITIVE 

ize the ideal in our time, to the full 
measure of its meaning, does not de- 
tract from the intrinsic excellence and 
spiritual reasonableness of the ideal, 
which makes the observance of the 
Lenten season one of the most precious 
and helpful and time-honored herit- 
ages of the Universal Church. 



BISHOP HALL 131 



REPENTANCE. 

The RT. Rev. A. C. A. HALL, D.D., 
Bishop of Vermont. 

This is the great work of Lent. 

4 4 Turn ye even to Me, ' ' saith the 
Lord, 44 with all your heart, and with 
fasting, and with weeping, and with 
mourning" (Joel ii, 12). 

4 4 Seek ye the Lord while He may 
be found, call ye upon Him while He 
is near : let the wicked forsake his 
way, and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts : and let him return unto the 
Lord, and He will have mercy upon 
him : and to our God, for He will 
abundantly pardon V (Isa. liv, 6, 7). 



132 REPENTANCE 

The work of Repentance in its sev- 
eral parts of self-examination, sorrow 
for sin, confession of sin, amendment 
and satisfaction, can not be better 
summed up than in the weighty 
words of the exhortation in prepar- 
ation for Holy Communion in the 
Prayer- Book. Those who would find 
acceptance with God are therein bid- 
den : — " First, to examine your lives 
and conversations by the rule of God's 
commandments ; and whereinsoever 
ye shall perceive yourselves to have 
offended either by will, word or deed, 
there to bewail your own sinfulness, 
and to confess yourselves to Almighty 
God, with full purpose of amendment 
of life. And if ye shall perceive your 
offenses to be such as are not only 
against God, but also against your 



BISHOP HALL 133 

neighbors ; then ye shall reconcile 
yourselves unto them, being ready to 
make restitution and satisfaction, 
according to the uttermost of your 
powers, for all injuries and wrongs 
done by you to any other; and being 
likewise ready to forgive others who 
have offended you, as ye would have 
forgiveness of your offenses at God's 
hand." 

With regard to Self- Examination, 
consider not only your past life, but also 
your prese7it state before God, the real 
condition of your soul in His sight : 
consider the graces and virtues that 
should adorn it, as well as the vices 
that actually disfigure it. Be definite 
in your examination and in all your 
repentance. 

C( I so run, not as uncertainly : so 



134 REPENTANCE 

fight I, not as one that beateth the 
air," said the Apostle ( I Cor. ix, 26). 
Many of those who are really trying 
to serve God would have to say of 
themselves if they truly described their 
manner of struggle, "I run indeed 
but very uncertainly" — not keeping 
in view the goal to be reached, and 
stretching continually toward it, with 
no particular virtue that I am striving 
for, no definite standard before me ; 
u so fight I just like one that beateth 
the air," spending my strength in vain 
because I do not clearly see the enemy 
with whom I have to contend, and 
against whom I ought to direct my 
blows. Find out your besetting sin 
or sins, the faults into which you 
most commonly fall, that are at the 
root of most evil in your life, the 



BISHOP HALL 135 

habits that more particularly hinder 
and mar your Christian life. Set your- 
self during Lent in good earnest to 
combat these. Concentrate the force 
of your prayers, your self-denials, your 
sacraments upon these strongholds of 
the enemy within you. 

What evil habit, ask yourself, am I 
specially to grapple with this Lent? 
What virtue in particular am I to 
cultivate ? 

The Seven Capital Sins (so called be- 
cause under one or other of these 
heads of evil all possible sins whether 
of thought, word, or deed, can be clas- 
sified) are sometimes more helpful than 
the Ten Commandments as an outline 
for self-examination, because we are 
thus enabled to trace the symptoms of 
evil (condemned by God's commands) 



136 REPENTANCE 

to the roots of evil from which they 
spring. Pride, Envy, Anger, are more 
especially the works of the devil ; Cov- 
etousness, the worldly sin ; and Lust, 
Gluttony, Sloth, the sins of the flesh. 
The capital sins are the development 
of the three-fold root of evil, the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and 
the pride of life, which draw away 
from the love of God (i St. John ii, 16). 
The knowledge of our sins must be 
followed by a humble Confession of 
them before Almighty God, with a 
true sorrow for the offence we have 
thereby committed against Him, and 
a sincere purpose of amendment. There 
can hardly be a better form of confes- 
sion, if one be needed, than the Gen- 
eral Confession in the service for Holy 
Communion, if we say it in the sin- 



BISHOP HALL 137 

gular number, slowly, and pausing at 
the end of each clause, to recall our 
own special transgressions, and to let 
the words we repeat find a real echo in 
our hearts. 

Concerning the special further con- 
fession of our sins to God in the pres- 
ence of His Priest, the exhortation 
which has been already quoted thus 
concludes: " Because it is requisite 
that no man should come to the Holy 
Communion, but with a full trust in 
God's mercy, and with a quiet con- 
science, therefore, if there be any of 
you, who by this means [of private 
personal repentance] can not quiet his 
own conscience herein, but requireth 
further comfort or counsel, let him 
come to me [the Parish Priest] or to 
some other minister of God's Word, 



138 REPENTANCE 

and open his grief ; that he may re- 
ceive such godly counsel and advice as 
may tend to the quieting of his con- 
science and the removing of all scruple 
and doubtfulness. n 

Let none whose consciences are trou- 
bled, either with the burden of past 
sin or with evil habits from which 
they find themselves unable to break 
free, shrink from seeking the help and 
assistance of those whom (as Richard 
Hooker puts it) ' ' our Lord Jesus 
Christ hath left in His Church to 
be spiritual and ghostly physicians, 
the guides and pastors of redeemed 
souls, whose office doth not only con- 
sist in general persuasions unto amend- 
ment of life, but also in the private, 
particular cure of diseased minds. " 

The bringing home to the individ- 



BISHOP HALL 139 

ual soul of God's pardoning word may 
be of unspeakable comfort to the pen- 
itent, while the personal guidance of 
one accustomed to deal with spiritual 
things may be of great value to a soul 
in struggling against temptations. 

Among " works of repentance " by 
no means forget the necessity of rep- 
aration for wrong done and of the for- 
giveness of injuries suffered, if we are 
to be ourselves at peace with God. 
Take care that you incur not the re- 
buke of the prophet, " Behold, ye fast 
for strife and debate, and to smite with 
the fist of wickedness " (Isa. lviii, 4). 
Put away (in Lent) the leaven of malice 
and wickedness that you may cele- 
brate the Paschal feast with the un- 
leavened bread of sincerity and truth 
(1 Cor. v, 8). 



140 THE TIME FOR ACTION 



THE TIME FOR ACTION. 

TheRt. Rev. FRANK R. MILLSPAUGH, D.D. 
Bishop of Kansas. 

Lent is an appointed battle ground. 
Halt ! Right-about face ! Forward, 
march ! cries the Captain of our Sal- 
vation to the soldiers of the cross. 
Some by the influence of numbers 
have been led to march with the 
legions of the evil one. The world 
and the flesh are exciting. The food 
in the haversack, put there by the Cap- 
tain's orders, has been wanted. Truth 



BISHOP MILLSPAUGH 141 

no longer girds the loins. The breast- 
plate of righteousness has been laid 
aside. The feet bathed have become 
soiled and allowed to so remain. The 
shield of faith is carried as an orna- 
ment and the fiery darts of the wicked 
are penetrating to the heart. The 
Sword of the Spirit is left hanging by 
the side. The standing orders, watch 
and pray, are forgotten. Halt! Right- 
about face ! Forward, march ! comes 
the cry of the Captain of our Salva- 
tion. 



142 WHAT IS THE USE OF LENT 



WHAT IS THE USE OF LENT? 

[For the Children.] 

The Rt. Rev. LEWIS W. BURTON, D.D., 
Bishop of Lexington. 

You do not mean to ask a question. 
Your feeling is that there is no good 
reason why you should keep Lent. 

The other day I saw a man, stand- 
ing in a store window, going through 
all sorts of foolish-looking motions. 
He was advertising a machine for 
exercising the body. Now, what's the 
use of a gymnasium? What's the 



BISHOP BURTON 143 

good of drawing yourself up by your 
arms till your chin can reach above the 
pole or the rings, or beating away at 
a hanging bag, so that your hands are 
blistered and your muscles are sore? 
I'll tell you. The gymnasium turns 
out men like General Lawton, with a 
body that can stand more rough living 
than an Indian. It made Bishop 
Whipple wiry and strong, so that, 
when a crazy student was about to 
shoot him in Church, the Bishop knew 
just how to jump on him and was able 
to pin him down till the lunatic could 
be arrested. 

Lent is a sort of gymnasium for 
character. It trains the will. It makes 
us morally strong. In Lent we do 
without some things we like and which 
in other seasons we might properly 



144 WHAT IS THE USE OF LENT 

enjoy ; and the practice makes us able 
to say "No" to some things we like 
and ought not to have. In the store 
window is some candy ; in your mouth 
is a " sweet tooth ! ' watering for it ; in 
your pocket is money to pay for the 
sugar-plums. But you have made up 
your mind to do without candy in 
Lent. So you pass on and give your 
nickle to the Sunday-school or the 
Church, that it may do good to other 
children than yourself. Every time 
you do that you are getting more and 
more control over yourself and grow- 
ing in the habit of unselfishness. 
When you grow up you may have to 
face some great temptation ; or some 
chance to do a nobly generous deed 
will come to you. What will make 
you a hero or a saint, when other men 



BISHOP BURTON 145 

or women are weak and fail, is the 
gymnasium you put your soul through 
in what you will then feel were the 
dear old Lents of your childhood. 

This is what the Collect for the first 
Sunday in Lent means. 



146 A SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY 



LENT, A SPIRITUAL OPPOR- 
TUNITY. 

The Rt. Rev. Henry Y. Satteri,ee, D.D., 
Bishop of Washington. 

If you open the Book of Common 
Prayer you will find at the beginning 
(in the table of Fasts, before the Or- 
der for " Daily Morning Prayer ") that 
the forty days of Lent are described as 
a time of fasting 

4 ' On which the Church requires 
such a measure of abstinence as is 
more especially suited to extraor- 
dinary acts and exercises of devo- 
tion. ' ' 



BISHOP SATTERLEE 147 

The authority of the Church means 
here, of course, the authority of cen- 
turies of Christian experience. Un- 
told generations of believers have dis- 
covered that the keeping a season of 
retirement from the world, when one 
can walk with God, undistracted by 
worldly engagements, is a great spirit- 
ual opportunity. In the process of a 
distinctly religious evolution, this Len- 
ten Fast has gradually grown to be a 
regular season of the Christian year. 
Its devout observance has been proved 
to be a strong spiritual safeguard to 
myriads of believers. The weight of 
this testimony, from generation after 
generation, has been so convincing 
that the Church is moved to speak 
authoritatively, and, in her Prayer 
Book, she solemnly ' ' requires ' ' a 



148 A SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY 

conscientious observance of Lent 
among* all those with whom her voice 
has any influence. 

Observe, however, that in so doing 
the Church appeals to our reason and 
our conscience. She does not prescribe 
fasting for the mere sake of fasting, 
but as a means to an end. Neither 
does she give any set rules regarding 
the way in which the Lenten Fast is 
to be observed. All this is left by her 
to our own consciences. She simply 
calls upon us to practice "such a meas- 
ure of abstinence ' ' as, in our own judg- 
ment, u is suited to extraordinary acts 
and exercises of devotion. " 

This is the New Testament way. 
Christ in the Gospels lays down no 
rules for holy living ; He simply sets 
forth the principles on which His re- 



BISHOP SATTERLEE 149 

ligiou is founded, and the conditions 
under which, alone, growth in grace and 
the knowledge of Him are possible. 

When Christ said, u If any man will 
come after Me let him take up his cross 
and deny himself and follow Me, n He 
plainly indicated that following Him 
necessitated a life of self-denial and 
self-discipline. He stopped there, for 
He ti r usted human nature to carry out 
the spirit of His command. Alleg- 
iance to Christ means far more than 
formal obedience to set rules. Love — 
love for Christ — is the fulfilling of the 
law. He knew the power of His Gos- 
pel over loyal hearts. He knew that 
there were divine instincts within us 
which would respond to His Voice ; 
He depended upon that response ; and 
was aware that this faculty or ability 



150 A SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY 

to respond would awaken in every true 
soul a corresponding sense of responsi- 
bility. 

This season of Lent comes to us as 
a divine call to stop and think, in all 
honesty, whether we are loyally dis- 
charging this responsibility which the 
Lord has laid upon us. We are called 
upon to retire for a season from the 
world that we may view how the world 
looks from the outside and that we 
may learn the life lessons our Lord 
Himself would teach us. 

There is one such life lesson which 
we ought especially to ponder. The 
gravest danger which assails all mod- 
em society is the lack of the sense of 
personal responsibility. Irresponsibil- 
ity is the growing evil of the times. 
Christian people should be on their 



BISHOP SATTERLEE 151 

guard against a thoughtless, careless, 
aimless routine of mere pleasure-seek- 
ing, for it opens the door to evils 
which, by and b) 7 , fasten themselves per- 
sistently, and often permanently, upon 
a community, before their true nature 
is realized. The power of wealth, for 
example, brings with it in these days 
an abnormal power of social influence. 
Through the multiplication of seduc- 
tive occasions for pleasure, it is often 
used as a handle to overthrow the 
moral safeguards of a community. It 
likewise becomes a bribe, for which 
weak characters will barter not only 
their birthright, but also their con- 
science and their Christian principle. 
At first only the weakest and the most 
worldly yield ; then others regard it 
as narrow-minded to hold aloof ; then 



152 A SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY 

social influences rise like a great flood 
and completely submerge Christian in- 
fluences ; then the whole moral tone 
of the community is lowered ; then 
those who have means, but not moral- 
ity, flock from all sides to take advan- 
tage of the situation. 

Christ says that His disciples are to 
be in the world, but not of the world ; 
that they, in that state of life in which 
it has pleased God to call them, are to 
be "the light of the world, " " the 
salt of the earth," the leaven which 
1 1 leaveneth the whole lump. ' ' Wher- 
ever we go, and whatever we do, our 
influence, first, last and always, is to 
be for Christ. We are distinctly warned 
not to i{ let our good be evil spoken 
of." If it is hard for us all to stand 
firmly against social influences which 



BISHOP SATTERLEE 153 

are contrary to Christ and the spirit of 
His religion, it is much more difficult 
to do so, and requires real moral cour- 
age in us, when considerations of per- 
sonal friendship become involved. It is 
then that we must fall back upon our 
sense of personal responsibility ; and 
whichever way we decide we must 
count the cost and face the conse- 
quences ; the alternative is forced upon 
us of either sacrificing personal friend- 
ship, on the one hand, or else of sacri- 
ficing Jesus Christ and our religious 
convictions on the other. It is hard 
to decide rightly and wisely ; yet, in 
taking a stand for Christ, we should 
never forget that, in reality, we are at 
the same time the best and truest 
friends of those who are most offended 
and alienated by that stand. 



154 A SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY 

We must not be afraid to say " No M 
to anything which clashes with our 
Christian principle : we must dare to 
refuse all social engagements which 
seem inconsistent with the season of 
L,ent or our sincerity as Christ's fol- 
lowers ; and we must resolutely separ- 
ate ourselves and our families from 
those associations which tend to de- 
stroy purity of character, to lower the 
tone of society, or to impair the secur- 
ity and sanctity of family life. 



BISHOP BREWSTER 155 



THE PURPOSE OF LENT. 

The Rt. Rev. 

CHAUNCEY B. BREWSTER, D.D., 
Bishop of Connecticut. 

Lent is a time to augment force of 
character, to exercise, and so invigor- 
ate the moral fibre ; to cultivate the 
power of choice, of making efforts, of 
quiet persistence. It is a time to see 
whether we have any real purposes, a 
time to confirm vague wishes we were 
better into definiteness of purpose to be 
better, to set ourselves, by force of re- 
solve, moving in the direction of good, 



156 THE PURPOSE OF LENT 

to exercise the will manfully, to prac- 
tice self-discipline, to learn at the first 
solicitation of temptation to bring down 
the will as with the weight of iron to 
settle the matter, to learn to choose 
"yes," as duty shall demand, thus to 
drill self in decision and power to act, 
and commit our will to do the will of 
God. 

Such effort will reveal short-comings 
and faults enough. Lent is a time to 
face the fact of sin, not merely sin in 
general, nor the sins of others, but 
one's own sins in particular ; and to 
deal with them in a definite way, to 
find them out, to confess them, and to 
make them matters of especial prayer 
and watching and endeavor for amend- 
ment. It were a Lent surely not in 
vain if even one sin might be thus re- 



BISHOP BREWSTER 157 

pented of, the bonds of one bad habit 
broken, the power of one deadly fault 
overcome. 

The root of sin is selfishness. The 
great business of Lent is self-denial. 
If you have sunk to, or never risen 
above, low levels of character, possibly 
it is because of some lack of the severe 
in your life. That note of severity 
was never absent from the perfect 
music of the life of Christ. If you 
would beat your music out, there must 
be that note, stern and distinct, of self- 
denial. Hard knocks of circumstance 
force it out of some lives. It can be 
struck in any life. And where it is 
not, the life fails of its best. That 
you can live in luxury need not, must 
not, make you luxurious. Amid sur- 
roundings of comfort one must take 



158 THE PURPOSE OF LENT 

the more heed, not to slip and slide 
softly down, and become worse because 
weaker. 

For such heed, Lent offers oppor- 
tunity, opportunity to be severely stern 
with self, somehow to endure hard- 
ness, to cultivate by exercise a robust 
hardihood, and, at the cost of whatso- 
ever trouble and pains, enter into the 
secret of the Cross. 

Thus Lent comes to put our disci- 
pleship to the test. It is a time for 
that discipline which means a kind of 
discipling. Anew we become disci- 
ples, scholars, to learn of Him who 
said : 4 ' Whosoever doth not bear his 
own cross and come after me, can not 
be my disciple. " 

The denial is not an end in itself. 
The further from self, the nearer to 



BISHOP BREWSTER 159 

God, and in God one's true self 
found. 

Lent is a time of gracious opportun- 
ity. Seek the Lord while he is near. 
The season calls you to seek him in 
sacrament and prayer. Let your re- 
sponse be to yield yourself to the thrill 
of that noblest of aspirations : c 4 Nearer, 
my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee." 



i6o SELF-CONSECRATION 



LENT A TIME FOR SELF-CON- 

SECRATION. 

The Rt. Rev. 

JUNIUS M. HORNER, D. D., 
Bishop of Asheville. 

Wk live in an age of such rush and 
turmoil that it seems a necessity that 
we have a season of retirement in order 
that we may make preparation to live 
as becomes the children of Our Father 
in Heaven. The time set apart by the 
Church for fast and prayer must not be 
looked upon as an end in itself, but 



BISHOP HORNER 161 

rather as a time in which to make 
spiritual preparation to meet the temp- 
tations of the world. After our Lord's 
fast of forty days, He was tempted of 
the Devil. 

There is a sore temptation that 
comes upon many, to feel, after a 
Lent spent in almost constant com- 
munion with heavenly beings, and in 
contemplation of heavenly themes, 
that a license is thereby won to in- 
dulge in an otherwise forbidden pleas- 
ure. We see the tendency to this 
kind of feeling show itself in the 
preparation for, and indulgence in, 
worldly amusements that are crowded 
into the few days immediately follow- 
ing the Easter festivities. This ten- 
dency should be avoided by Church 
people, if for no higher reason than 



162 SELF-CONSECRATION 

at least because it brings reproach 
upon the Church. Give not the enemy 
an occasion to blaspheme. 

David gives us an example of a 
beautiful spirit of self-consecration in 
his prayer for cleansing that should be 
imitated in our lenten devotions, and 
in our efforts after purity of thought 
and action : 

" Make me a clean heart, O God, and 
renew a right spirit within me. Then 
shall I teach Thy ways unto the 
wicked: and sinners shall be converted 
unto Thee." 

This should be our constant aim in 
all efforts after holiness of life, that 
we may be the more efficient in the 
Master's service. 

If we keep constantly in view that 
for which we wish to discipline our- 



BISHOP HORNER 163 

selves, namely, the better to do the 
work committed to us by our God, the 
Holy Season of L,ent will most prob- 
ably prove a profitable one. 



164 A SPIRITUAL NECESSITY 



LENT IS A SPIRITUAL NECES- 
SITY. 

The Rt. Rev. Wm. Hali, Moreland, D.D., 
Bishop of Sacramento. 

There are sad anniversaries in every- 
one' s life. There are days when you 
deny yourself to visitors and do not 
come down to meals. Why ? Could 
we look into the privacy of your cham- 
ber we would know the reason. Be- 
fore you is the picture of a dear face, 
in your heart the memory of a beauti- 
ful life, in your ears the sound of a 



BISHOP MORELAND 165 

voice now stilled. It is the anniver- 
sary of a loved one's death. Your 
spirit is subdued and there are tears 
upon your cheek. Each of these days 
is like a little Lent. If you enter with 
the right spirit into such sacred sea- 
sons you will come out of them with 
a blessing. The spirit of Lent is de- 
votion to a person. You are brought 
very near to the suffering Saviour. As 
you have kept the glad, bright anni- 
versaries of His life — Christmas, Epiph- 
any, Easter — so you enter into the 
days of His Temptation, Passion and 
Death. Our reason for keeping Lent 
is because we are Christians. It would 
be strange and unnatural not to keep 
it. It would be a poor love for \ Christ 
which can rejoice with Him, but 
which can not suffer and die with Him. 



166 A SPIRITUAL NECESSITY 

This explains why the Churchman who 
really loves Christ does not attend 
social festivities and theatres in Lent. 
Would you go to a ball on the anni- 
versary of your mother's death? To 
do so would not be a sin, but the very 
thought shocks you as of an act incon- 
gruous and heartless. Therefore when 
the Christian is missed from his usual 
haunts in society during Lent, let the 
reason be understood. He is in mourn- 
ing for his Lord. It is a sacred time 
for him. He can have no heart for 
the gayeties and frivolities of life, how- 
ever innocent, while one dearer to him 
than all the earth beside is treading 
the wine-press of agony alone. The 
Christian and Christ are one. There- 
fore Lent is a spiritual necessity. 



BISHOP EDSALL 167 



DAILY LENTEN SERVICES AND 

HOME READINGS OP THE 

SCRIPTURES. 

The RT. Rev. SAMUEL COOK EDSALL, D.D., 
Bishop of Minnesota. 

Two of the most noticeable defects 
in the religious life of our time are 
absenteeism from divine service and 
negledl of the Bible. To these two 
causes can be traced much of the ig- 
norance of religious truth and much 
of the indifference to spiritual things 
which curse society. The man who 



168 DAILY LENTEN SERVICES 

gets into the habit of staying away from 
church and of neglecting the Holy 
Communion need not be surprised if 
the spiritual side of his nature becomes 
dwarfed or atrophied. The longer he 
stays away, or the more irregular his 
attendance becomes, the harder is it for 
him to experience a genuine and rever- 
ent interest in the Church service. The 
spirit is quenched. At last he becomes 
hardened into an unconsciousness of 
his soul's need. That there exists a 
widespread ignorance of the Holy 
Scriptures, even among Christian 
people, is lamentably obvious. At a 
literary club in one of our cities, the 
women were suddenly asked to name 
the Twelve Apostles. Most of the 
answers started off with " Matthew, 
Mark, Luke and John," ignoring the 



BISHOP EDSALL 169 

fact that two of the Evangelists were 
not Apostles. One such typical in- 
stance may suffice. 

Among the purposes of the Lenten 
Season should be, first, the search for 
what is amiss in our religious life, and 
second, the effort to correal and amend. 
A practical use of Lent for very many 
people would be to take it as a time 
for correcting these two faults. Make 
of it a time when we can renew by 
frequent practice the habit of church- 
going. Make of it a time when we 
can renew and refresh both our intel- 
lectual and devotional acquaintance 
with Holy Scripture. Privileged is 
the man or woman who lives in a 
parish where Morning and Evening 
Prayer are said daily during Lent, with 
the Litany on its appointed days ; and 



170 DAILY LENTEN SERVICES 

where there are frequent opportunities 
for receiving the Holy Communion. 
The comparatively short services, in- 
terspersed at different hours of morn- 
ing, afternoon and evening, will make 
it possible for many a busy and world- 
weary man or woman to gain at least 
some hour or hours during the week, 
when, in the silence of the temple, 
they can kneel in self-examination, 
can ask God to help them know their 
faults and give them true repentance, 
can pour forth their souls in confes- 
sion, prayer and Litany, can listen to 
the words as they come from lectern 
and pulpit It is well, then, for a 
priest to give his people these fre- 
quent opportunities, and not to be dis- 
couraged because the attendance is 
small. It is well for the parishioner 



BISHOP EDSALL 171 

to make some definite resolve to avail 
himself of as many of these opportun- 
ities for church-going as his circum- 
stances may permit. 

But how about the little parishes 
and missions where they can not have 
daily services ? How about the scat- 
tered sheep in the wilderness, who are 
many miles away from any church ? 
How about those who are kept at home 
by sickness or are otherwise "let and 
hindered"? Well, all of these can, 
if they but will, share in these privi- 
leges, and at the same time increase 
their knowledge of Holy Scripture. 
Let them, in some quiet half hour 
at night or morning, or both, take 
their Prayer Books, carefully read 
through the appointed service for 
morning or evening, as the case may 



172 DAILY LENTEN SERVICES 

be, and in particular give a thorough 
devotional reading to the appointed 
lessons from Holy Scripture for that 
day. It will do them good to learn 
to find their places in Prayer Book 
and Bible. And it may help them 
to know that in their quiet solitude, 
in their effort to use their Lent aright, 
they are joining in the very words of 
a service which is being said that day 
all around the world. 



BISHOP FUNSTEN 173 



LENT: A SEASON FOR PRAYER 
AGAINST SIN. 

Thk Rt. Rev. JAMBS B. FUNSTEN, 
Bishop of Boise. 

The mystery of sin we can not 
understand, but the evidences of it 
abound within our hearts and in the 
world around us. Unhappily, how- 
ever, w r e are too often blinded to the 
true nature of sin. L,ike the syrens of 
old, sins are by their deceitful allure- 
ments destroying many who all the 
time are unconscious of any real dan- 



174 PRAYER AGAINST SIN 

ger. The Bible speaks of sin in plain 
terms and unveils its hideousness. 
Modern literature throws a glamour 
over sin and describes it in terms that 
rather excuse than condemn it. Let 
us turn to God's Word for our defi- 
nition. There we find it described 
as blindness, debt, sickness, crime, 
leprosy, corruption, shame, trouble, 
slavery, the way of death, works of 
the Devil, enmity to God, separation 
from God and light. The whole story 
of the Cross, the beautiful life and 
death of Christ get their mighty force 
and meaning from the fact that sin was 
so dreadful and so far-reaching in its 
destructive effects that in order that 
men might be redeemed ' c God gave 
His only begotten Son that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish 



BISHOP FUNSTEN 175 

but have everlasting life. ' ' The Cross 
of Christ which shines so brightly for 
the redeemed casts a dark shadow on 
the sin that defies God's will. The 
realization of sin's true nature and 
effect comes from the Holy Ghost. 

Well may we pray this Lent of 1902 
as we never prayed before, "Search 
me, O God, and know my heart : try 
me and know my thoughts : and see if 
there be any way of wickedness in me 
and lead me in the way everlasting." 
This may bring us to lay hold of those 
blessed words of our Communion office, 
"This is a faithful saying and worthy 
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners." 



176 THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT 



THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT. 

The Rt. Rev. JOSEPH M. FRANCIS, D.D., 
Bishop of Indiana. 

Lent is an opportunity provided 
for us by the Church, during which, 
to use another's words, we are to "sac- 
rifice the lower for the sake of the 
higher self." This is to be done, and 
can only be done, by self-denial. The 
opportunity is one which we can not 
neglect or misuse without serious and 
lasting loss. 

First, then, I put the sacred and 



BISHOP FRANCIS 177 

weighty obligation which rests upon 
us to endeavor to use and observe Lent 
for the purpose for which it has been 
set apart by the Church in loving 
imitation of our blessed Lord. 

Secondly, I would urge you to con- 
sider the spiritual benefit which results 
from a Lent well kept The crying 
need which we all feel in the midst of 
our busy and strenuous lives is the 
need of time for thought. "Get time 
to think" was the exhortation of the 
great Saint Bernard ; ( { get time to 
think" is my exhortation to you at 
this time. How great an advance may 
be made if only we use the forty days 
of Lent for careful thought about God 
and about our souls ! In order to do 
this it is necessary that we have a rule 
by which we may live day by day. 



178 THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT 

Additional opportunities of grace will 
be given in your Parish Churches ; 
there will be special services, more 
frequent celebrations of the Holy Com- 
munion, instructions, meditations and 
the like. Make a rule for yourselves 
before Lent begins concerning your 
attendance at these services, and also 
make a rule for your private life, as to 
your prayers, your reading and study 
of God's words, your self-denial, your 
work for others. Withdraw so far as 
possible from the world in order that 
you may cultivate God's presence. He 
speaks to those who listen for His 
voice ; He comes to those who are 
waiting for His coming. Make rule, 
then, and make it simple. Do not try 
to do more than you can reasonably 
expect to be able to perform, but make 



BISHOP FRANCIS 179 

it a rule which will require self-denial, 
the sacrifice of the lower for the sake 
of the higher self. The three great 
duties of life are Prayer, Fasting and 
Almsgiving. Your rule, to be of 
value, must include all three. It is for 
each one to determine how strict his 
rule shall be, to determine between 
God and his own soul. 

Then, finally, let me warn you 
against a use of Lent which is utterly 
useless. Many use this season as a time 
when they do their religious duties for 
the year. Constant services, frequent 
communions, much parish work mark 
the season, and when Lent is over they 
go back to the world and to their for- 
getfulness of God and to their disre- 
gard of the rules of the Church as if 
Lent had never been. Such a Lent 



180 THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT 

can bring no blessing. The object in 
self-denial is self-discipline. By sur- 
rendering what is in itself lawful we 
discipline our desires so that when a 
temptation comes to do that which is 
unlawful we may be strong to resist 
and overcome. Each Lent should find 
us further advanced on our road to- 
wards God. Each Lent should mark 
a higher level of spiritual life. Each 
Lent should find us better equipped, 
when it is over, to keep our baptismal 
vow, to fight manfully under Christ's 
banner against sin, the world, and the 
devil, and to continue His faithful 
soldier and servant to our life's end. 



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